Who are your three favorite female singers?


I have favorites, but would like to hear from others.  Thanks
whatjd
Good to see Jennifer Warnes mentioned.  Her "Famous Blue Raincoat" album/cd has been an often played favorite of mine since it was first released.  It is a collection her singing the songs of Leonard Cohen. 

@16f4,

If you really want to know who was the heart of Brazilian music it was Elizete Cardoso. In 1958 her album Canção do Amor Demais was the album that first introduced Bossa Nova not only to Brazil itself, but to the world.

The music was composed by Vinícius de Moraes and Tom Jobim and contains the first recordings of João Gilberto’s guitar beat, which would go on to become a staple of bossa nova. And Lord Almighty, could she sing.

She was the voice on the Black Orpheus soundtrack, another bossa nova tune and in her day was just as a highly respected and talented singer as any of her American contemporaries of the day.

What Brazilian music has taught me is that Bossa Nova is to Samba, what Jazz is to the Blues. And Brazilian Forró music is what we would call country music in America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkDfnGobmI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9kkHbEmN2c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%C3%A7%C3%A3o_do_Amor_Demais


To Shelby Lynne I'd add and after some deep thoughts
Dawn Upshaw
Ellen Foley

that makes three. Hard competition though.. 
Anyone want to venture in Brazilian music, listen to Elba Ramalho. If you can find “Coraçao Brasileiro”, she was at the height of her vocal control (circa 1983).
Linda Ronstadt
Jennifer Warnes
Christina Aguilera (not really for her music, but for her vocal skills)
@ sondeknz Julie London had a small voice and occasional pitch problems.  She still sounded very sexy.  

As to a female performance which always gives me goose bumps/makes me cry is Beverly Sills in The Ballad of Baby Doe.   There are five fabulous arias and then the one which ends the opera is phenomenal.   An American opera based on historical facts.  Tremendous feeling as well as superlative singing.
Nancy WilsonCarly SimonClare Torry who sung The Great Gig in the Sky, from Dark Side of the Moon
Just found Samantha Fish on Youtube great vocalist and blues guitarist. Great energy in her performances. If you like her try Anna Popov
Beth Hart after she hooked with Joe Bonamassa. The vibrato in her voice is amazing. 
I posted earlier but I forgot to mention this 14-year-old girl who deserves to be mentioned and she sings yellow brick road better than Elton her name is Angelina Jordan
Lani Hall may not be considered with some of these others, but I enjoy the one cd I have that she made. 


@fleschler
I’m with you on JERI SOUTHERN and DINAH WASHINGTON.

Glad to hear that you’ve given STACEY KENT a chance too. After years of listening to her, I’m still totally enamoured with what MS. KENT can do with her little voice...

In hindsight, it was remiss of me to leave JULIE LONDON off my larger list, also.
Lots I like but these 3 are getting the most play lately:

Ely Bruna
Janiva Magness
Inger Marie Gunderson  ( similar style but prefer her to the ubiquitous Diana Krall)
I’d like to think the OP question is which female voices give you goosebumps when you hear them.
so for me it rules out some previous poster’s choices where I find limitations in the singer’s abilities. For instance, Sade has a great voice but her range is so limited every time I hear her avoiding a high note by going subdued it just ruins it.
as far as Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, they just do anything for me (great songwriting, I’m just focusing on the voice). Picking them is like picking Neil Young as great male singer.
for range and ability to sound golden, soft, harsh and use pitch nuance I find Barbra Streisand and KD Lang just have it.  to me KD Lang is a female Version of Bono’s voice.  
Third choice is rather hard, I’d have to say Diana Ross.
on a side note, nobody could argue that Cher is one the the greatest female singers....but nobody’s favorite!  Popularity -  yes.  Goosebumps - no.
@ sondeknz  My mistake, you didn't mention Garland.  I heard Stacey Kent.  A small, thin sounding voice.  I prefer fuller sounding voices with a wider frequency range.  Judith Durham was okay, had pitch problems when she sang.   I might as well list June Christy, Jeri Southern, Dinah Washington, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday as some of my jazz favorites.  Dorothy Kirsten, Rise Stevens and Conchita Supervia (Spanish songs) as great crossover opera - pop singers 
davidm238  Only my sister would agree with you (collects all Streisand since she was a child).  
Does anyone why Natalie Merchant Tigerlily is so expensive on vinyl or anything about the 2015 release? 
I’m interested in a mint or near mint copy but when I did a search a few days ago I only found copies available starting at about $100.
Can't give you my fav 3, but these are the ones I have been listening to most often lately:

Bettye Lavette
Nina Hagen
Laurie Anderson
@ sondeknz The question was top 3, not a list of 90.  I have 42,000 LPs/78s/CDs. I chose my top three from recordings dating back 100 years, of which 20% have female singers. I don't doubt you prefer nearly all contemporary singers but there have been more accomplished singers over the period of recordings (although you mention Fitzgerald and Garland).  
@fleschler 

Sorry you didn't enjoy my list.
I wasn't trying to show-off.  I had simply hoped that going wider on list would help others to find some new favourites.
Certainly I have found a load of new voices myself, through this thread.
Based upon your own Top 3 picks, I think you would be most rewarded by exploring the music by STACEY KENT.
ELLA FITZGERALD was 4th on my list, but I have to admit the other three get heavier rotation these days.
I think my mentions of NINA SIMONE, JUDITH DURHAM and others qualify as "earlier" artists.
I never mentioned JUDY GARLAND.  Just not my bowl of satsumas.
All highly subjective, of course.
Lorraine Feather - Astonishing voice and writes great lyricsTierney Sutton - A true professionalJane Monheit - Very skilled, great voice
I'd put Emmy Rossum on the list if she'd stop recording pop schlock and record some good material (jazz). Outstanding skill, can sing for beauty and power. She's a great actress, but there are other great actresses. She's a top level singer.

Some others: Cassandra Wilson, Maureen McGovern, Lena Horne
Opera - Claudia Muzio      Rosa Ponselle      Roberta Peters
Pop - Ruth Etting      Ella Fitzgerald     Judy Garland

@ sondeknz The question was top 3, not a list of 90.   I have 42,000 LPs/78s/CDs.  I chose my top three from recordings dating back 100 years, of which 20% have female singers.  I don't doubt you prefer nearly all contemporary singers but there have been more accomplished singers over the period of recordings (although you mention Fitzgerald and Garland).

This was very tough.

Not because there aren't a lot of great female vocalists.  There are.

The challenge here was to pick my three best female vocalists, ever!

This forced me to consider their vocal talents - and not just the quality of the songs or music, that each particular artist delivers.

For example - I simply adore the music of SHERYL CROW.  But, would I rate her as one of the three greatest vocalists ever?  Probably not. 

So, included on my short list is: -
ALISON GOLDFRAPP [From GOLDFRAPP]
ALISON KRAUSS
ALLISON DUBIN
ANETHA FALTSKOG [The BLONDE from ABBA]
ALISON KRAUSS
AMANDA MCBROOM
ANASTACIA
ANGELIQUE KIDJO
ANNE MURRAY
ANNIE LENNOX
ANITA BAKER   
BARBRA STREISAND
BASIA TRZETRZELEWSKA [From MATT BIANCO]
BIC RUNGA
BRANDY CLARK
BROOKE FRASER
CARLA BRUNI
CAROL KIDD
CELINE DION
CHINA FORBES [From PINK MARTINI]
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
CHISTINE MCVIE [ From FLEETWOOD MAC]
CILLA BLACK
DEE CASTENSEN
DIANA KRALL
DIONNE WARWICK
ELIZABETH FRASER [From COCKTEAU TWINS with MASSIVE ATTACK]
ELLA FITZGERALD
ENYA
EVA CASSIDY
FILIPPA GIORDANO
FIONA APPLE
GRACE JONES
HAILEY TUCK
HANNAH REID [From LONDON GRAMMAR]
HOLLY COLE
IMOGEN HEAP [with URBAN SPECIES]
JANIS IAN
JONI MITCHELL
JUDITH DURHAM
JULIE ANDREWS
KANDACE SPRINGS
KAREN CARPENTER
KAREN SOUZA
KARIN BURGQUIST [From OVER THE RHINE]
KATIE MELUA
LANA DEL RAY
LINDA RONSTADT
LISA EKDAHL
LIZZ WRIGHT
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
LULU
MADELEINE PEYROUX
MARIANNE FAITHFULL
MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER
MARY HOPKIN
MELISSA ETHERIDGE
MELODY GARDOT
MINDY SMITH
MINNIE DRIVER [AND she's a successful MOVIE STAR!!!]
NANA MOUSKOURI
NATALIE MERCHANT
NINA SIMONE [AND one of the greatest JAZZ PIANISTS EVER!]
NORA JONES
PETULA CLARK
POLLY BROWN [From PICKETTYWITCH] 
RENEE GEYER
RICKIE LEE JONES
SADE
SAM BROWN
SANDY SHAW
SARAH GROVES
SHANA HALLIGAN [From BITER:SWEET]
SHARON ROBINSON
SHELBY LYNNE
SHERYL CROWE
SHIRLEY BASSEY
SIA [Also with ZERO 7]
SINEAD LOHAN
SINEAD O'CONNOR
SIOBHAN DE MARE [From MONO]
SIOBHAN DONAGHY [From the original SUGBABES] 
SKY EDWARDS [From MORCHEEBA]
SOPHIE BARKER [From ZERO 7]
STEVIE NICKS [From FLEETWOOD MAC]
TAMMY WYNETTE
TRACEY THORN [From EBTG with MASSIVE ATTACK]
TRACY CHAPMAN

So down to my three finalists...

This was truly an impossible task, so I simply picked the three that remain in heaviest rotation around our way, at this current time in my life.
[It could be a different pick tomorrow...]

ALISON KRAUSS, Forget About It (1999)
STACEY KENT, Dreamsville (2001)
K. D. LANG, Ingenue (1992)

I have also noted what I believe to be their finest moments on record

One final thought:  An honorable mention must go to MIKE MILOSH, lead singer of RHYE.  MILOSH is obviously NOT female, but he sounds more female than a lot of the ladies.  If you happened to miss the RHYE debut - WOMAN - from 2013, be sure to check it out!
+1 @sgordon1,

Yes! I bought my first Rosa Passos cd in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. I love her!
I probably have more than a thousand flac albums in Portuguese in my flac burning days when I was learning to speak Portuguese. But that’s another thread...
Just saw Yola on Austin City Limits. She's got a powerful yet effortless voice. Got to check her out on Qobuz.
1. Annie Lennox
2. Emmylou Harris
3. Joni Mitchell

The 3 that can bring tears to my eyes.
mg16
Rosa Passos has to be included in mine.
The way she sings in Portuguese (foreign to me), I swear she is
singing only for me.  Anyone else know her work?
Natalie Merchant
Linda Ronstadt 
Emmylou Harris

Comment on Jennifer Warnes. Possibly one of the best vocalists out there but my tastes lean more towards rock and blues. The song she did on the Duets album with Rob Wasserman is absolutely outstanding. 
All fantastic, but seriously not one vote for Reba McEntire? Has anyone else seen her in concert, amazing voice. 
@ jyadlon cool you mentioned The Electric Pea Shooter.  I have 'Love the Way You Roll' signed by the Lady herself and Miss Vicki Bell that I bought after being totally blown away by them 5 minutes before.  Her hilariously self-aware cover of Willie's 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy is exactly that.  I can't quite figure out why she isn't one of the best known blues artists in the world.  If she looked like Beyonce we probably wouldn't even know who Beyonce was.

Definitely not a show to be missed!