Other Female Singers

Listening to Diana Krall today . . . in this video she names Nat King Cole as a major influence. She has such a rich alto.

 
Sheena Easton actually did pretty well for herself. She's proven herself equally adept at MOR, Pop, and R&B. Few singers had her artistic range are as convincing as Easton. I'm not much on "Sugar Walls" (filthy tune, btw - if anyone other than Prince had written it, it never would have even been recorded) but "The Lover In Me" and "What Comes Naturally" were both credible R&B.

Ed
 
Sheena Easton actually did pretty well for herself. She's proven herself equally adept at MOR, Pop, and R&B. Few singers had her artistic range are as convincing as Easton. I'm not much on "Sugar Walls" (filthy tune, btw - if anyone other than Prince had written it, it never would have even been recorded) but "The Lover In Me" and "What Comes Naturally" were both credible R&B.

Ed


It`s nice to know that so many of my favourite female singers are appreciated........in addition to the wonderful Dusty,Pet Clark,Christine McVie,Linda Ronstadt.Corinne Drewery.Carole king.Agnetha + Frida,Laura Nyro............etc

I would certainly always include the superb BONNIE RAITT in a list of my all-time favourites.

Also I don`t think anyone has mentioned either Jackie DeShannon or Suzy Bogguss who are also terrific songwriters in my opinion.

And finally a few fellow Brits that I don`t think have been mentioned but I can most definitely recommend (and who can I`m sure be found on Youtube + itunes)

Sandy Denny-lead singer Fairport Convention and A&M solo artist-composer of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes":covered of course by the incredible Judy Collins

Lesley Duncan-another lovely singer songwriter whose "Love Song" was covered by Elton John

Judie Tzuke who along with the the two ladies previously mentioned remains one of the UK`s greatest unappreciated singer songwriter-her best known song and only UK hit was "Stay With Me Till Dawn"

Finally a lady who I saw in concert recently and who still sings beautifully: Kiki Dee-she`s still making cds but these days primarily writes all her own material which is certainly most unlike her old pop hits


cricketer
 
It happened on December 28th, 1999 that I discovered Andrea Corr and The Corrs. This family band had that sibling harmony thing going on that I'd liked since The McGuire Sisters. I couldn't get enough of them, and actually traveled to Australia to see a couple of live concerts. They were a band for only a few more albums and years before breaking up to do the family thing, and I hope that they someday get back together to create some more music. Andrea and Sharon Corr have each released solo albums, but they're not quite the same.Harry

So glad you shared this in your post Harry - thank you for letting us know about the Corrs. I have since listened to everything I could find on line by the Corrs and watched interviews on Youtube to get to know about them over the years. I can see some parallels to Carpenters, being a very talented family performing together. I enjoyed watching Andrea fronting the group on stage - do you know if she was taught stagecraft or if she's just a natural? I wish Karen would have been taught/allowed to dress more appealingly and let her personality come to the fore on stage in her early years, as Andrea did.

I think one of the things that got people's attention and helped the Corrs in the beginning is that they are all gorgeous - especially the sisters. If that helps get people to listen, then that's great I suppose. Karen and Richard were very much the girl and boy next door. Of course the Corrs career has been of the internet generation and much more focused on music videos and appearances.

I also thought of Karen's solo album when reading that Andrea was 'gutted' when her solo album was not well received, as she wrote it and put her heart and soul into it. But it has a very different sound to it - musically and lyrically - and I can imagine people thinking "We want more beautiful harmonies and love songs".

I have a feeling that had Karen's solo album been released in 1979, the listening public in general may have had the same reaction to her as they did to Andrea. Mind you, Andrea is U.K. based, and the Corrs were of the 1990's, not the 1970's, but I think that people would have expected more beautiful ballads from Karen as a solo singer. It's a shame we'll never really know.

I would very much enjoy hearing The Corrs reunited, though it seems Jim may not be interested in performing any more. It would be great if the sisters were to do an album together in the future, more like their early work.
 
I think this is about my favorite Corrs song! Though I love the unplugged concert - really showcases their talents.
 
UNPLUGGED is gorgeous - and LIVE AT LANSDOWNE ROAD is one of the most amazing concerts ever. When the hometown crowd takes over singing "Runaway", it just about reduces Andrea to tears.

Harry
 
UNPLUGGED is gorgeous - and LIVE AT LANSDOWNE ROAD is one of the most amazing concerts ever. When the hometown crowd takes over singing "Runaway", it just about reduces Andrea to tears.

Harry
Yes, the way their audiences all know the songs and sing along is reminiscent of Carpenters concerts.
 
I would certainly always include the superb BONNIE RAITT in a list of my all-time favourites.

Yeah, wow, how did I forget her??? Amazing, amazing talent. My favorite of hers is "I Can't Make You Love Me" - no matter how many times I hear that one, it never fails to give me goosebumps - but I don't believe she's ever made an album I didn't like. "Angel from Montgomery," "Love Has No Pride," "Nick of Time," "Goin' Wild for You Baby," "Blue for No Reason," "Not the Only One," "My First Night Alone Without You," "Steal Your Heart Away," "Silver Lining," "I Can't Help You Now," "Have a Heart" ... all stuff that's perpetually in very high rotation on my iPod. What a great catalog of work she's amassed over the years!

It is pretty weird, isn't it, how easily overlooked Jackie DeShannon is? She tends to be remembered primarily as a singer, so it's easy to forget that she's a writer, too. "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" was her own composition, and The Searchers' "When You Walk in the Room" and Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" were also both compositions of hers, if I remember correctly.

Not sure how Lesley Duncan never became bigger. Talented songwriter. For as dynamic a songwriter as Elton John is, and as good as most of his own compositions on Tumbleweed Connection are (especially "Come Down in Time," which is just gorgeous), it's a testament to Duncan's talents that she actually managed to write what's arguably the best and catchiest song on that album ("Love Song.")

Always nice to see so many Corrs fans on this board, too. I love all their stuff, but the one that knocks me out the most is the VH1/Live in Dublin album. "So Young" and "Runaway" sound even better live than the original studio recordings, "Would You Be Happier?" is definitely one of those songs that makes you sit up and think, "How was this not a hit???", "Joy of Life/Trout in the Bath" is the Corrs at their instrumental best, "When the Stars Go Blue" absolutely blows every other version (Ryan Adams' original included) out of the water, and "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is hands-down the prettiest cover I've ever heard of that song. I easily listen to that album more often than any of the studio albums.
 
While her voice is nothing like Karen's (of course, I'd say no one's is :angel:) I'd like to jump in on the Bonnie Raitt bandwagon. She was the first artist I bought every record of. I even have a fair amount of underground/unreleased recordings. She reminds me of Karen, not in style of voice, but in the sheer emotion she can sing with. While I like a lot of singers, Karen and Bonnie are some of the few who can literally make me shiver.

As far as albums go, Bonnie is one of those few whose entire albums I enjoy. There's very few songs of hers I don't like. That said, I don't care for the album Green Light at all, and I'm not terribly fond of Nick of Time. However, her least popular album, Nine Lives, is in my opinion extremely underrated. It has some real gems. Angel, Crime of Passion, Who But A Fool, All Day, All Night, and Stand Up to the Night are all slam dunk tracks. It does have an absolutely heinous album cover though. Nine Lives actually reminds me a bit of the later Carpenters stuff, especially the posthumous releases. Some of the tracks have dated instrumentals, but I think if she were to revisit it and lay down some new guitar and scrub some of the fluff, they could really be fantastic. Either way, it badly needs a remix. Her vocals are pushed way too far down into the mix, and the whole album was normalized at a really low level.



You can see from this picture whose music I have the most of. I have a pretty large library, not so much in terms of number of artists, but in terms of volume per artist. The Carpenters and BR make up my top two by volume of music. (Definitely need to get on adding to my Cat Stevens collection, and Carly Simon's stuff could use a few more friends).

most%20songs.JPG
 
I can't imagine anyone silly enough to top this one:

CarpWMP.jpg

Harry

:eek::whoa::drool: I feel like such a slacker! I've certainly got my work cut out for me. Guess I need to set up those eBay auction notices and fly to Japan for blackmarket Carpenters recordings...:winkgrin:

You might be giving Richard a run for his money in terms of sheer volume of Carpenters material! :biglaugh:
 
I can't imagine even Richard having 41 iterations of "We've Only Just Begun" in his online library - if he even has one!

CarpWMPWeve.jpg

Harry
 
While her voice is nothing like Karen's (of course, I'd say no one's is :angel:) I'd like to jump in on the Bonnie Raitt bandwagon. She was the first artist I bought every record of. I even have a fair amount of underground/unreleased recordings. She reminds me of Karen, not in style of voice, but in the sheer emotion she can sing with. While I like a lot of singers, Karen and Bonnie are some of the few who can literally make me shiver.

I like Bonnie Raitt's voice for the same reason - sheer emotion in her voice. Girl can sing. As soon as you hear her start to sing, you recognize that it's Bonnie Raitt. Like you know instantly when it's Karen. On some songs, I think Adele has a style similar to Bonnie Raitt, but not the depth of emotion. Maybe in time she will.
 
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Did anyone mentioned Canadian jazz singer Holly Cole?? The CD "Shade" is one of her best efforts!! I do like the CD "Dark Dear Heart" (1997) which has the remake of The Beatles 1965 song "I've Just Seen A Face" & the song "Make It Go Away" & a great sounding CD I might add!! Holly is coming to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario at the Kiwanis Theatre in October but I don't have any plans on going to see her though.:shake: Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
song4u, I agree, Adele has a promising voice. She has some great songs out.

Harry, I'm speechless. All I can say is "WOW". I especially like how you've added your own labeling to the title to keep track of them- that's a great idea. I don't have many duplicate tracks. Those in the digital realm are mostly from Carpenters Gold, but I'm pretty sure those are all different versions as they sound like they've been cleaned up.

Speaking of duplicate tracks, in that rare Japanese compilation thread I saw there is a different version of Another Song. I will definitely be on the lookout for that, that's one of my favorites!
 
Harry, I'm speechless. All I can say is "WOW". I especially like how you've added your own labeling to the title to keep track of them- that's a great idea. I don't have many duplicate tracks.

I did all of those just for research for the Carpenters Complete Recording Resource, our attempt at clearing up all of the confusion regarding Carpenters mixes and remixes. I haven't had the heart to delete them just yet - they still serve a purpose as things settle in on the Resource.

Otherwise, I don't do much in the way of duplicate rips. It's pretty much only done for a few really favored artists.

Harry
 
As far as albums go, Bonnie is one of those few whose entire albums I enjoy. There's very few songs of hers I don't like. That said, I don't care for the album Green Light at all, and I'm not terribly fond of Nick of Time. However, her least popular album, Nine Lives, is in my opinion extremely underrated. It has some real gems. Angel, Crime of Passion, Who But A Fool, All Day, All Night, and Stand Up to the Night are all slam dunk tracks.

I agree with you about Nine Lives. The album cover is terrible, I agree, but the music is excellent, and I've always been surprised that that album didn't perform better, not in the least since "No Way to Treat a Lady" was easily one of her catchiest and most commercially-friendly singles up to that point, and it had the advantage of being co-written by Bryan Adams, who was absolutely red-hot at the time, which makes you wonder how it could miss.
 
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One of my favorites from my limited time working for a "progressive rock" radio station in the '70s is Annie Haslam, lead singer of Renaissance. Most of Renaissance's repertoire consists of extra long tracks ranging from 7 to 12 minutes, but on one on their early albums was this little 3-minute something song called "Carpet Of The Sun". Below is a live version performed on the BBC:



Harry
 
Annie solo and with the band Renaissance has been a favorite of mine since the 70s. I saw her/them play many times at the Bottom Line here in NYC. She has a soaring soprano with all the high notes. Also, the former group October Project, like Renaissance was arty and progressive, but their lead vocalist Mary Fahl had a rich alto voice. Nice stuff if you are in to the genre.
 
I certainly listen to Christine McVie and Nancy Wilson for a start!! :) Fleetwood Mac is much the poorer for losing Christine.

For sure. :agree: Stevie Nicks' voice I can't tolerate, but Christine's was always more husky and expressive. Even on an album like Tusk, her songs stand out. And I've always been fond of some of Buckingham's songs, especially a few that are a little on the quirky side. :laugh:
 
Annie solo and with the band Renaissance has been a favorite of mine since the 70s. I saw her/them play many times at the Bottom Line here in NYC. She has a soaring soprano with all the high notes. Also, the former group October Project, like Renaissance was arty and progressive, but their lead vocalist Mary Fahl had a rich alto voice. Nice stuff if you are in to the genre.

Renaissance had an interesting career. They were somewhat known in their home country of England, but had their greatest success in the New York to Philadelphia corridor of the US, where they got a lot of support and airplay on the progressive radio stations of the day, and were almost unknown outside of that area.

I remember trying to convince a program director in Philly to play a Renaissance tune or two in later years, but as his experience came from elsewhere, he'd never heard of them and wouldn't hear of putting them on the air. Yet they had almost their entire success in that mid-Atlantic region. Annie Haslam ultimately made her home in the Philly suburbs and still shows up at some local events and performs and records with varying members of the old Renaissance from time to time, as well as maintaining her solo career.

Harry
 
I'm also a Huge Barbra Streisand fan, saw her in concert twice! Also like Carly Simon, Carole King. I basically listen to music from the 1950s-80's
 
Harry - did you know that the Corrs contributed to an ABBA tribute album? This is so awesome! Andrea's lower register is very rich.
 
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