Best Male Singers of the 20th Century

If no one knows the who this singer is, so noted in his time for the purity of his voice and perfect pitch, my bet is that most of the singers listed above, with the possible exceptions of Sinatra, Caruso and Elvis (as a pop icon, certainly not a singer) will be as obscure at the turn of the 22nd Century as he appears to be now. If it weren't for Mendelsohn, Bach would probably be as obscure a composer as 99% of his contemporaries. I guess everything is relative to the time we live in.

My first pick would be The Chairman, Sinatra, for his style of phrasing - the best. My other vote getters would be Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Paul McCartney, Mel Torme, Gordon Lightfoot and (I'm cheating a little) Simon & Garfunkel, which worked together so well they often sounded as one voice.

Tubegroover, Al Jolson?, Treyhoss, I think you may enjoy Justin Hayward and Gordon Lightfoot, but "Great Singers of the 20th. Century"... I don't think so. Paul Simon would best be described as a great songwriter and Garfunkle had some truly beautiful moments, but is a little light for this list.

Cool post Bmpnyc. I vote Jeff Buckley the numero uno for his 'Grace' album. Other as yet unmentioned greats are Junior Wells (Alone and Acoustic w/Buddy Guy), Leonard Cohen (The Future), and lastly Townes Van Zandt in his elder years (Dollar Bill Blues).

Johnny Hartman has already been mentioned. He is one of the best ever. A relative new singer is Kevin Mahogany. He is a modern day Johnny Hartman. Stunning. However, no one, I mean no one, phrases a song the way Little Jimmy Scott did! Until you hear his version of "Don't Try and Change Me", you have not heard the best. This man's voice "will tear your heart out"!