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5 most recognizable voices in American music?

While watching CNNs Larry King interview Johnny Cash a few days ago, I commented to my wife that Johnny Cash probably has one of the five most recognizable voices in American music today. My wife agreed and then asked "Well who are the other four?" After some discussion, we came up with our nominations (in no particular order):

Johnny Cash
Elvis Presley
Ray Charles
Barbra Streisand
Louie Armstrong

This question probably assumes that the singer is quite famous and that their music has been around quite awhile-- or they became really famous really fast. We'd be interested in knowing what other A'Gon members think about these five, or others you would nominate instead for this "top five"? Thanks. Craig
garfish
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,868 posts
 
sevs: If you like to drone, check out "Program" on the Silver Apples album. Happy Holidays!
2channel8
760 posts
 
I want to encourage any and all rock and R&B fans to buy INTRODUCING DARLENE LOVE, a 2015 release on Columbia produced by Steve Van Zandt. This album (CD) is truly a labor of love and respect for one of the great ladies of pop music who was basically screwed out of her royalties and recognition. Her first solo single was released as a Crystals song without her knowledge or consent, for example. Her music was an inspiration for the overall sound of Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run album. There is original music written for her by Springsteen, Van Zandt, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Webb, Linda Perry, and  - get this! - Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil. There are performances by Costello, Van Zandt, Jake Clemons, Paul Schaffer, and Bill Medley among others.
Even if you've bought all of Darlene's oldies and best of collections; the odds are that she never got a dime of your money. This one is different. It is available from Amazon in CD, Vinyl, and MP3 download. There is also a DVD/Blu-ray of the Oscar winning documentary, "20 Feet From Stardom" featuring Ms. Love and some of her peers that I Think I must get.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,287 posts
 

Darlene Love, one of my absolute favorite singers! Her vocal on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is astoundingly great!! She sang for Phil Spector, who kept all the money his label made, sending the artists out on the road to work for peanuts. That's the way the music business worked in those days, is wasn't just Phil.

Springsteen said he was trying to make his Born To Run album sound like Roy Orbison as produced by Phil Spector.

veroman's avatar
veroman
299 posts
 
judy garland!
bing
frank
satchmo
billie h


showing my age ...these may not be the best but one word and you know who it is
sevs
301 posts
 
@dweller Thanks for the tip!! Downloaded Silver Apples onto my Pono, some real crazy stuff! If it was a CD I would have put it next to my Japanese mini-LP boxes of Cluster/Roedelius CDs. Not "droning" by my definition but definitely (like Cluster craziness and Deepchord and Klaus Schulze drones) the kind of music I tend to listen to thru the headphones so that my family won't sign me into the loonies bin! ;-)
once again, thanks for the tip, I did not know that some Americans are as loony as Germans! Until now the Talking Heads/David Byrne were the craziest US tunes in my collection. 
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