Jack Bruce
Greg Lake
Maria Carey
Tony Hadley
Wotsisname from Duran Duran

has left me stunned and amazed.

What did he ever do to you to justify that?

Pye Hastings has his vocal charms too, come to that, especially when you can detect the smirk on his face when he sings a particularly risque lyric, something Caravan do rather well.

All the others I'll not challenge.

I think it's probably all in the modulation, and that leaves a certain tweeness in his enunciation. I like the instrumental break.
Pye Hastings likewise, tho' twee-er still. Big fan of Caravan otherwise. Smirks, his awful shirts and (hnurr hnurr) Cunning Stunts make it that much more of an effort.

I think Chris Farlowe is a fantastic vocalist but he is an acquired taste, tending towards the very dramatic. I feel the same about Peter Hammill, Ian Gillan, David Byron et al. I love them but can see what turns people off.

Lee Jackson was a pretty poor vocalist though, really- can definitely see why Emerson jumped ship to work with the (to me) infinitely better Greg Lake.

I would have nominated Dave Lawson who sang with Greenslade whose vocals I always found a bit limp, but then I heard him on another album by a band called Web and he was terrific.

Never liked those Celine Dion/Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston types that strangle the hell out of a song.

was a bit crap wasn't he?

( Brown that is ).

what you mean about Pye Hastings...it is a thin and rather uncertain little warble...but he has written some devilishly tuneful songs and his fragile tone suits them perfectly so perhaps those are mitigating factors? Don't get the dissing of Chris Farlowe though. Surely he's one of the finest white R&B singers this country ever produced!

slightly off topic, but following the Pye Hastings debate, a short list of singers who probably even irritate their own mum, BUT still get me excited:

(1) Robin Williamson
(2) Richard Harris
(3) Len Cohen
(4)Laura Nyro
(5)Joanna Newsom
(6) Hope Sandoval

was fantastic. Robin Williamson lives down my street. He doesn't own a computer you know. ( Heard him say that at the Post Office the other day when he was just before me in the queue. Just thought you might like to know ).

I know he has written some cracking songs but as a singer, that bloody (southern) American accent... He's from bleedin' Stanmore or somewhere......

Don't see many mentions of this great band here. Saw them loads of times when I was at university. Much preferred the version with Clem Clempson singing rather than Chris Farlowe, but I still went to later gigs.

Another vote from this corner for the mighty tonsils of Chris Farlowe. Far from ruining Colosseum, he made their sound as much as any of the others. Playing "Colosseum Live" and hearing him tear into "Rope Ladder To The Moon", caps what remains one of the most exciting live tracks ever recorded (and, amazingly, they thought the recording was crap, and nearly didn't release it!). My votes for crap singers are: Alison Moyet, for whom I still persist in reserving the term "stentorian hooting"; and Marc Bolan, who may indeed have been a sex-on-legs rock pixie in all other respect, but whose feeble bleating still makes me want to slap him. Oh, too late!

I forgot Mr. Tuneless himself!

Can't agree on Supertramp (their names are Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies) at all... love 'em.

For me, in no particular order...

Mariah Carey
Celine Dion
Dave Gahan
Ian Curtis
the bloke out of Kaiser Chiefs... good grief, put a sock in it man!
the bloke out of Arctic Monkeys
Kate Nash
R. Kelly
Justin Timberlake

Lovely feller but he sings like a dying dog

He's alright on shouty stuff, but on ballads? He can't hit a note to save his life.

the gum.

..couldn't sing in tune to save her life.
Anthony Keidis jumps around and waves his hair to distract your attention from his charmless bark.
..but my first prize must go to lee Jackson from The Nice. (Thankfully, like his ((sort of)) successor, he rarely got a look-in.

Shame on that man! She may not, thank the Lord, be Katherine Jenkins, but she has an entirely suitable set of pipes for her style. Listen to the fabulous Concrete Sky off her 3rd and be not moved.

with the Fratelli's? Good solid guitar pop. And fun dammit. FUN!

Can't be doing with it, it's for young people anyway. Anyhow, daddy took my T-bird away.

then look no further than Natasha Beddingplant - cant sing and has no decernable personality or stage craft. Saw her opening for Sheryl Crow many moons ago and I'm still bitter about the 30 minutes of my life I'm not getting back.

Oh and Shane, you take back what you said about Beth Orton...I dunno, bloody philistines.

Tracey Thorn anyone?
Strewth, she knows roughly where the notes are, but can't, quite, almost, exactly, find them. It's painful.

...some have dared to voice their dislike of those Arctic Monkeys. I dislike those vocals with a passion, personally, not to mention the glut of copycats that followed in their wake. Never liked Liam Gallagher either; based his whole career on the way John Lennon sang on 'Rain', I felt.

Kate Nash brings out the worst in me as well...

Like listening to an alley cat with asthma.

Nice songs, shame about the voice...

Raymond Douglas may have only written a smattering of decent songs since, oh, 1968, but apart from some of the affectations on Dedicated Follower of Fashion is the bees knees for his material.Brother Dave mind...... "Let's all drink to the" silence "of a clown".

...isn't Jimmy Pursey's rasp the bees knees for his material too then?

......were anything than unlistenable claptrap. (Mind you, the bulk of muy argument is based on Hersham Boys, or whatever it;s called, a song surprisingly not included within the lyrics strand, given the beauty of its statement.
So thats a yes, then , I think!

...in that Pursey's voice is ideal for the shouty nonsense that Ver Sham passed off as songs. I can see your point that RDD's voice suits the songs but I just think his vocals are pretty weak compared to the strength of his material...though they are better than his bro's, yes!

removing any trace of poetry from cole porter's lyrics by inserting his own crazy ad-libs. nasal whine if you ask me.
nelson riddle knew what he was doing though.

What is his name agin, Roland? Hate him with a passion, well, his voice,might be an ok bloke.

Mariah Carey - enough said, any of thos warbling 'divas' make me want to cry.

I agree about Bob - its the way he did it that makes that whine excusable, personally I still hate his voice though. I do like Neil Young however....

.....is his name. Certainly an acquired taste, but anything is forgiven by the wonderful bendy leg contortions of Messrs Steele and Cox.
Whatever happened to Roland Gift?
(Talking of Rolands, tho' he wasn't their worst offender, Tears for Fears couldn't sing for toffee either.)

is Damien Dempsey. I read a review once that told me how great this guy is - i bought a cd on the strength of said review and you know what? fucking awful, tuneless, rabble rousing crap.
And no i wont give him my address.

He may have been poor in his heyday but I had the misfortune to see him playing the bass and singing, and I use the term as loosely as it can be used, only a few years ago when The Nice played QEH on the South Bank. It was, erm, unforgettable.

Silly question time, was he also, Python Lee Jackson? Or was The Python there to distinguish him from the Nice one?

....and number 8 was "Just as the tide was a'flowing"/shirley Collins, which reminded me what a fabulous song it is. And how tepidly awful her voice is. Which reminded me how equivalently dire is the voice of Cathy LeSurf, Albion Band (and Day trip to Bangor "fame"....)
Blimey, to think if I had heard them ahead of Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson, a whole part of my life would remain unexplored.

Consistently sang flat for The Style Council. Did they not realise or was Weller just afraid to upset the missus?

That bloke from The Lighthouse Family. Limited vocal range and annoying voice.

Boy George. Said this before but limited vocal range, singing songs especially written so as not to show up his limitations.

Bruce Springsteen. God awful songs sung by something that should have been put down at birth.

Sorry, just remembered 'The King'. Don't mind the rock 'n' roll stuff, but his ballads sound like someone trying to sing through a mouthful of sick. 'It's now or never'. I'll take never please Mr Presley thank you.

Listen to side 2 of Closer and hear the voice of God. At the end of the day there may be many singers that are technically better but they rarely have anything to say.

When Curtis sings "I looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all" it is as chilling as anything I've ever heard. But knowing someone else had also felt like that and I wasn't alone was a great comfort at the time.

Beth Orton is another great singer - check out Paris Train from Daybreaker.

Now my nomination for a truely lousy singer is the guy with the nose that sand Copacabana (or I've got a nose like a banana...) - left such a lasting impression I can't remember his name, Barry something?

Robert Wyatt - sings like a dying sheep. Unlistenable.

Mark E Smith of The Fall is pretty rubbish too, but you knew that and I suspect he does too.

Not to be confused with Cara Dillon or Sandy Denny. She does sound like a gruff female Tom Waits (but I love Tom Waits).

When I saw Richard Thompson at De Montfort Hall a few years back the audience were out for the kill. I have seen so many people walk out of a support act (or since) just to head back into the bar. Or that the audience were going to pelt her with some rotten tomatoes or cabbages!

She looked as though nothing had happened.

Up at the top of this thread both Joan Baez and Jack Bruce are dismissed. Jack may not be the greatest singer in recorded history, but he's not bad. Sunshine and White Room are both pretty good performances which I put forward for the defence.

But Joan Baez? What are you looking for in voice? I think you stuck that in through sheer perversity. It's an argument that is too silly to contemplate.

Too pure. I prefer some flaws. Hence Joan is bad and Beth is good.
Thanks for the more details on PLJ.

Arcade Fire are great, but could be greater with a singer who doesn't mumble. I'm sure they have room for another member.

Sorry, but he does me 'ed in, especially on the slow numbers. I saw him at Glastonbury back in the eighties and I fell asleep, and I'd already had a nap during the Van Morrison afternoon set.