Best Male Singers of the 20th Century

Waltersalas,
Good post! I see that you are a righteous and noble defender of the George Jones faith. However, my list of male soul singers has both Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield occupying a higher position than the aforementioned Mr. Green. I must say though, his "I'm Still in Love with You" LP is as fine a Soul disc as any ever recorded.

Thanks, Tweakgeek. For me, the number of votes on the board for Sinatra compared to "no-show" Jones is more a testament to a general bias against country music than anything. Sinatra is/was great, but no male singer I have ever heard sings with more emotion than Jones. His pain is sometimes palpable to the point of being unbearable--in this particular area, he has only one peer, and that is Billie Holiday. Jones is to Sinatra as Holiday is to Ella Fitzgerald. All are great, but for very different reasons.

BTW, I love Otis, too, but I'll stick with Green.

The King ! The King ! The King ! The King ! The King !

I can't believe no one said Elvis.

Maybe not the best voice of all time (but damn good for the genre) and certainly not the best material, but no one, I mean no one, could sing like Elvis.

When I say "sing", I mean - convey passion and emotion. He had this wonderful, painful, soulful quality that was both unique and mesmerizing. IMHO, Sinatra was not even close in communicating feeling like Elvis. To me, Sinatra "articulated" the songs, Elvis breathed life into them.

I know some will scoff, but had he not been so flawed and had he had better management, no one would have ever approached his genius, even today. God truly did break the mold on that one!

is getting to be quite skilled. just saw him live at the anson ford theater (seen him at the jazz bakery as well) and he was great. it helps to have the laurence hobgood trio to work with but kurt can stand on his own. he has performed with jon hendricks and his mentor-mark murphy.
......regards......tr

Josh Groban, is a new male singer just breaking into the scene. If you watched the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics, Josh sang the closing song with a female artist. He also sang the star spangled banner at the recent NBC special on 9/11. He has his first CD out and his voice is incredible and with a high quality recording. You can hear is music online at http://www.joshgroban.com