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Photo: Redfern/Redferns/Retna Born April 16th, 1939 (died March 2nd, 1999) Key Tracks “I Only Want to Be With You,” “Son of a Preacher Man” Influenced Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone “What makes a great singer is that you have to be completely naked within a song,” says Shelby Lynne, who recently released an album of [...]
Photo: Bieri/AFP/Getty Born August 9th, 1963 Key Tracks “The Greatest Love of All,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Saving All My Love for You,” “I Will Always Love You” Influenced Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Faith Evans, Mary J. Blige The daughter of R&B and gospel singer Cissy Houston, Whitney grew up around family friends Aretha Franklin [...]
Photo: Putland/Retna Born May 12th, 1948 Key Tracks “Gimme Some Lovin’” (with the Spencer Davis Group), “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (with Traffic), “When You See a Chance” (solo) Influenced Dave Matthews, John Mayer Steve Winwood exploded onto the London music scene as a teenager with his powerful, soulful tenor — notably on “Gimme Some Lovin’” and [...]
Photo: Solaro/AFP/Getty Born May 106th, 1960 Key Tracks “One,” “With or Without You,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “Beautiful Day” Influenced Eddie Vedder, Chris Martin, Thom Yorke I would describe Bono’s singing as 50 percent Guinness, 10 percent cigarettes — and the rest is religion. He’s a physical singer, like the leader of a [...]
Photo: Persson/Redferns/Retna Born June 10th, 1910 (died January 10th, 1976) Key Tracks “Smoke Stack lightning,” “Back Door Man,” “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)” Influenced Robert Plant, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits John Fogerty was nine when he first heard Howlin’ Wolf’s sandpaper voice on the radio. “It was just so powerful, and so [...]
Photo: Winter/Getty Born June 7th, 1958 Key Tracks Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry,” “Kiss” Influenced OutKast, D’Angelo, Gwen Stefani, Kevin Barnes “Prince is the boldest black singer in postmodern music, hands down,” says Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson. “His voice has multiple personalities, he’s fearless, and when he screams, he truly sounds like he’s [...]
Photo: Getty Images Born February 21st, 1933 (died April 21st, 2003) Key Tracks “Mississippi Goddam,” “Four Women,” “I Wish Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” Influenced Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Erykah Badu “White people had Judy Garland — we had Nina,” Richard Pryor once said. Nina Simone’s honey-coated, slightly adenoidal cry was one [...]
Photo: Stevenson/Retna UK Born January 19th, 1943 (died October 4th, 1970) Key Tracks “Piece of My Heart,” “Cry Baby,” “Me and Bobby McGee” Influenced Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Lucinda Williams “She was shaking that shake that she did, and was screaming. I’d never seen anything like it,” says Melissa Etheridge of seeing Janis Joplin on [...]
Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Born September 17th, 1923 (died January 1st, 1953) Key Tracks “Lovesick Blues,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” Influenced George Jones, Buddy Holly, Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson “At first listen, Hank may not sound like a real good singer,” says Merle Haggard, “but he had a unique method [...]
Photo: Simon/Retna UK Born June 9th, 1934 (died January 21st, 1984) Key Tracks “Lonely Teardrops,” “That’s Why (I Love You So),” “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” Influenced Al Green, Ben E. King, Bobby Darin, Michael Jackson Jackie Wilson remains unmatched in the category of loosened-tie, high-energy rhythm & blues vocalists. The operatic [...]