1. Sandy Denny
2. Joan Baez
3. Joni Mitchell
Glad to see Sandy appearing twice prior to my post, bearing in mind that neither she nor Fairport really cracked the US of A in period. She was born in Wimbledon, where I was brought up and her brother David went to my school, five years prior to me.
I listen to female singers for the quality of the voice. From opera and singers of classical material I note only Cecilia Bartoli makes the cut and then only at no.4. This may be because many find trained voices forced, unnatural and unattractive, as I do. At least Bartoli is at the 'less trained, more natural' end of the spectrum and as a result has avoided the big parts, outside Mozart and a few other lighter works. Joan Baez' wonderful voice in her younger days could easily have taken on that same zone of opera without training and if she had, opera would have benefitted. Perhaps I would listen to it more often. I bought many used golden period opera LPs, mainly on Decca, in the late 80s, not expecting to listen much but unable to leave them on the shelf at £1 an LP, or sometimes less. I have about 5 shelf feet of these. They do sound good, still some of the best sound around. Choosing carefully, many had been hardly played. The Ring cycle with 19LPs cost £12, mint. I note it can still be had on eBay in such condition for around £90.