Other Female Singers

Lots of love here for Basia. Interesting. Don't want to threadcrap, but she's never been my cup of tea, for some reason.

And I knew I'd forget someone important in my listing earlier in the thread, and thankfully someone else mentioned her, and that's Dionne Warwick. She's simply the voice of Bacharach/David unlike most others. Karen was one of the exceptions, of course.

Harry

Threadcrap . . . that's a new one on me, LOL. You always have definite opinions Harry and you're welcome to them. I don't know what it is about Basia for me - maybe it's partly because of the emotion she conveys. She has written almost all of her material based on her own life experiences and I think it comes across very well. That and I love the way she sings sambas.

Dionne Warwick, of course, is the original voice of Bacharach/David songs, and that's what draws me to her. I do love "I'll Never Love this Way Again" however.
 
Just for your own education (and for other newcomers), a threadcrap is defined as a post in a forum thread counter to the intention of the original poster.

Example:
A thread titled "A Beatles Appreciation Thread - List your favorites"
A threadcrap in that thread would be "The Beatles suck. I don't know how anyone can seriously listen to that ****."

That same post would be perfectly OK if the title of the thread were "How do you feel about The Beatles?" since the poster is giving his honest opinion.

By the way, threadcrapping IS forbidden on these Forums, so always pay attention to the original post and its intentions.

Since I was expressing a somewhat negative impression of Basia, I didn't want it to sound like a threadcrap, hence my note.

Harry
 
Ah, Marilyn McCoo. Saw her live. Beautiful and talented. Just as gifted as Whitney Houston was at her peak. Undermarketed or poorly marketed. Such a shame!
 
Ah, Marilyn McCoo. Saw her live. Beautiful and talented. Just as gifted as Whitney Houston was at her peak. Undermarketed or poorly marketed. Such a shame!

Yeah we saw her live in EPCOT with hubby Billy Davis last year. Great shows!

Harry
 
She appeared with Richard Carpenter on a Children's Miracle Network telethon once. Didn't they perform together at that, or some other event?

Love Wedding Bell Blues! Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr have one of those very successful show biz marriages. I think over 40 years now.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Barbra Streisand ................
Some of her ballads i feel are stunning and she 'had' an amazing range. She maybe can't belt quite so much now, but i still really enjoy her music, i think she 'feels' the song in a way Karen did, plus being able to express that feeling with her voice too.
I think i remember reading that Barbra once said to Karen that she has a 'marvelous instrument', Karen was modest about it, but someone said your voice is every bit as good as Barbra's, but in a different way. I wonder what a duet with the two of them would have sounded like ???
 
Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer's duet was great, though they had different styles. I can see Karen singing with either one of them.
 
Great choices! In addition to those wonderful ladies, my iPod has quite a bit of Gloria Estefan and Janet Siedel as well
 
Not much of a female vocal fan, but most that I like sing in a lower register.

Bebel Gilberto is a big favorite of mine in recent years, even if some are sung in Portuguese. Her second album is probably my favorite. Her father is Bossa Nova legend João Gilberto, and her mother is Brazilian vocalist Miucha.

Rumer is a recent favorite...really like her first album!

Dionne Warwick exudes class and restraint, and is IMHO the best interpreter of the Bacharach/David catalog.

Long time Basia fan here...bought her first album on a gamble and was hooked.

Sade I like, but with the right material. Her acoustic tunes are among her best, and her second and third albums are my favorites.

Barbra Streisand...not a big fan, but the Broadway Album is nearly desert island material for me.

Rosie Vela hasn't got the widest range to her voice, but the sound of her voice matches well with her style of music. Too bad she only had one album released.
 
I can't believe I left Helen Reddy off of my all-time favorites list above. The majority of ladies that others have mentioned above I also really enjoy a lot. Marilyn McCoo, Melissa Manchester, Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick in particular. Although for them, I am mostly familiar with just their hits. They are all on my list of catalogs I would like to dig into deeper someday.

Your comment about Streisand "feeling" the music is interesting, LondonRobert, because I've always felt the exact opposite about her. While I think she has an amazing voice from a technical standpoint (range, control, phrasing, diction, dynamics, etc.) and excellent taste in material, I've always had a difficult time getting into her because with a few exceptions I've never felt she has an emotional connection to what she sings. (Which is even more surprising since she is an actress as well.) I've always seen her as more a "thinking" performer than a "feeling" one. That isn't a bad thing by any means, it's just harder for me to connect with as a listener. Just my opinion.
 
Well said, Actorman. That is exactly how I feel about Streisand. I appreciate her voice and really love it on some things, but she leaves me cold.
 
Janet Siedel is great.

I've heard that Karen very much admired Barbra Streisand's voice. I wish we knew what/who else she listened to. Richard has said she did most of her listening in the car, but she surely must have collected records from other artists she met over the years.

I agree with mstaft about Streisand - not enough warmth. Karen could deliver a song just dripping with warmth.

Anyone else here a fan of Manhattan Transfer? Love their harmonies! This is my favorite . . .



By the way, it's Barkley Square, not Berkley . . .
 
Hi all,
Re Berkeley square, asong4u, it is spelt correctly actually, but pronounced BARKeley. It is a square in London. A bit like the Derby, pronounced DARby, although i know Americans pronounce it DERby........

Re Streisand, i have heard people say that before that they don't think she 'feels' the music. I suppose it just boils down to personal taste and what appeals to each person individually........ I imagine there are some people out there who feel the same way about Karen....... Needless to say they are wrong in this instance!!
Without wanting to incur the wrath of anyone, i always felt that Karen didn't convey the sentiment of Goodbye to Love ...... She sings it beautifully but i feel it's almost as though she is more concerned with not running out of breath than getting across in her voice the desolation we should feel, if in that situation. It's as though she is just singing the lines on the page ............ Thats perhaps the Streisand feeling other people feel, about technique over 'feeling' it.... I only feel that with that one song though and i still adore it!!!

Bob
 
Re Berkeley square, asong4u, it is spelt correctly actually, but pronounced BARKeley. It is a square in London. A bit like the Derby, pronounced DARby, although i know Americans pronounce it DERby........

You learn something new every day - thank you for clarifying that. :laugh:
 
Regarding Streisand: Yeah, I like her, too. But...

I've always had to deal with people saying she is the best singer ever; and with me, being the staunch, outspoken Karen defender I am, naturally have to propose Karen for that distinction. I know that they are (were) both great and, yes, different singers who brought remarkable uniqueness to a song. Such comparisons are probably unfair.
 
kd lang is the singer today who best embodies Karen's style and tone. Listen to her "Hymns from the 49th Parallel". She covers Canadian songwriters like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her phrasing and rich alto evoke Karen at her best from the "Horizon" era.
 
K.D. Lang has a beautiful voice. I have heard her say in interviews that she loved Karen's voice too.

I neglected to mention Diana Ross earlier too.

When I started the car this morning, I heard Carpenters Kind of Hush on our local oldies radio station. Color me surprised! Turns out they were doing a show on 70's artists, so they couldn't leave them out. I'm not sure why they chose that particular song out of all their work though.
 
Check out Tony bennett & k.d. lang "A Wonderful World" CD!!! (also a Grammy winner) Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
The only album I own of Barbra Streisand is Yentl, I picked up the LP years ago in a old record store still sealed, I liked it so much that I ended up buying the CD only to be letdown, the LP had so much more warmth to it. I can't vouch for the rest of her albums but for Yentl I have always been drawn to. I think she really connects to the audience on this album. Although the content of the songs were meant for the movie, I still love the songs.

One of my favorites is a song called "This is one of those moments" There is a line in the song that says, "There are moments...you remember all your life...there are moments you wait for and dream of all your life..this is one of those moments...I will always remember this chair, that window...the way the light streams in..the clothes I'm wearing...the words I'm hearing..the face I'm seeing...feelings I'm feeling...the smell the sounds...will be written on my mind, will be written in my heart...as long as I live....

I absolutely love those lyrics and everytime I play this it takes me back to my grandmothers house in Maryland. I had so many good memories at that house with my grandfather and grandmother but at this time they had both passed away and the house went to my mother and her sister and I was there to help move everything out of the house as they were going to sell it several years later. I remember sitting on the back porch and how the light streamed in and the smell of the house and how the weather was cool that time of year, the pictures on the wall, the wooden stairs to the upstairs and downstairs made by my grandfather, his workshop in the basement. It's funny how songs can affect you and take you back in moments of your life that mean so much to the listener. Good thoughts and memories.

If you were to peak in my iPod you would find I also enjoy some of these artists: Olivia Newton-John, Karen Carpenter, Agnetha/Frida of ABBA, Amy Grant, Alison Krauss, Andrea Corr, Crystal Lewis, Twlia Paris, Judy Collins, Kristy McNichol (songs from The Pirate Movie)
 
While I may have acquired some Streisand records around here, there's only one I ever cared about - her STONEY END album. The three Laura Nyro songs on that album are just flat-out great records. ("Stoney End", "Flim-flam Man", and "Time And Love") Other than those, I've never much paid attention to anything she's done.

Harry
 
Let me jump in- most have been mentioned, but I'll throw in Michele Pillar, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gloria Estefan, and Vanessa Williams.
 
I've always been drawn to female voices. At least eighty percent of my collection is by them...

After Karen Carpenter, my all-time favourite singer is Melissa Manchester. I have all of her albums, and my favourite songs of hers include "Midnight Blue", "Fire In The Morning", "Better Days", the theme from the movie "The Promise", and "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love".

Other ladies that I've enjoyed listening to for a very long time include Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Helen Reddy, Agnetha Faltskog, Rita Coolidge, Amy Grant, Basia, Toni Tennille, and Sheena Easton.

I also enjoy some of Celine Dion's earlier albums, anything by The Corrs (the solo albums by Andrea and Sharon, not quite as much), Diana Krall, The Bangles, and (laugh if you must) Bananarama.

Oh, and I mustn't forget my obsession of the past ten years, Kylie Minogue! Yeah, she does a lot of pop-dance fluff, but sometimes it's a nice break to listen to fun upbeat music. She's also a better singer than most people give her credit for.
 
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