Best Singer of All Time is...

[GregWormald]

Voices are important, but rhythm, use of the voice, and delivery of the emotional content of the music are more important to me. I want to feel connected to the artists' intent, whether it is sad, happy, or ...

So many singers with excellent voices seem to have almost no emotional resonance to the song—all songs are sung with the same techniques, tone, etc.; and when they do sing challenging areas they can try too hard and some notes become 'hard' and even harsh.

 

At the moment I'm following the performances of Diana Ankudinova with chills and goosebumps often.

 

 

[GregWormald]

8 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

Greg, if thats the case you REALLY should check out Morgan James.

I've seen/heard some Morgan James and she's good but she's not "my cup of tea".

[GregWormald]

On 8/24/2020 at 8:53 AM, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

My vote is probably Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey.

 

Like many others it's impossible to know for sure. I don't particularly listen to either one very much. I think both of them had incredible voices and incredible tone. They were both masters of their craft (whether you liked it or not). Both have impeccable timing and phrasing. Both are very popular and had commercial success. And importantly both are one-off originals and in terms of at least Frank Sinatra many have tried to copy. Shirley Bassey has one other distinction. She is singularly the only female singer with enough power in her voice to "belt" that it doesn't sound like a" belt" (maybe Judy Garland came close), or even worse sound like a  strangled cat. A provocative comment I know and others will disagree

A modern version of Frank Sinatra showed up in The Voice Holland—Dennis van Aarssen. I won't nominate him as the best of all time, but he is very engaging, smooth, and on pitch.

 

For me, what was special about Frank was the rhythm and timing, which was still evident even after his voice was almost completely gone. 

 

I heard Shirley fairly recently and the voice I loved is pretty limited now.🙁Thank goodness her records still shine.

[GregWormald]

On 8/25/2020 at 10:41 PM, GregWormald said:

I've seen/heard some Morgan James and she's good but she's not "my cup of tea".

OK, with the recommendations I decided to listen further—I'd heard her on Postmodern Jukebox, and everybody should have a chance to show on their own song choices.

Ella Fitzgerald for example, blows me away on some of her tracks, but she was apparently 'forced' to sing everything they put in front of her.

[GregWormald]

Diana Ankudinova. Sort of off-topic.

...........................

13 hours ago, Audiophile Neuroscience said:

This girl has a God-given gift. It certainly may not be everyone's cup of tea but at age 17 I think she is outstanding and cannot wait to see were she develops "as an artist" when she either writes or is given her own music.

Diana has had about 12 years of vocal/performance training.

Brief history. (Parts may be distressing to some.)

At age 3 some relatives found Diana roaming the street in eastern Russia. She had been kicked out of home by mom after attempting to drown her.  Mom is alcoholic with 11 abortions and one failed abortion—Diana. Nobody wanted Diana as it was assumed she was retarded. She was unable to speak much at all and spent much of her time crying. Investigation at the rescue home showed knife scars, cigarette burns and a broken collarbone. The masseuse at the home often brought her teenage daughter to work and the daughter said if mum didn't adopt Diana, as soon as she turned 18 she would.

After mum adopted her, Diana was sent to singing lessons to see if her speech could be improved and they discovered her talents. The family moved away from the east when Diana's mum, seeing that she was becoming famous, threatened to try and take Diana back.

Diana had won over 50 child competitions before appearing on the Russian talent show for disadvantaged/orphaned kids, You Are Super. She triumphed, winning 48% of the final vote between 8 finalists. Second place received 9%. The master of the show, Igor Krutoy, provided Diana and family with a residence in Moscow so she could continue her music training with the best teachers. The result is what you hear today. Diana was 17 on 31 May this year and is competing for entry to tertiary education at a prominent music and performance academy.

She has now had 3 or 4 songs written for her and has started arranging.

 

[GregWormald]

2 hours ago, Albrecht said:

<huge snips>

Music as (same with art) has no definition. Music is, and Art is, whatever someone who calls themselves a musician or artist says it is. The audience can call that bad music, or "not music" to them.. but that's just for them.

 

I can recognize for sure that there are objective criteria like, (Tony Bennett has a wider vocal range that Bing Crosby and has a better ear and misses fewer notes).

I'm with Albrecht on this. "Great" is absolutely subjective (unless some objective criteria are specified), and so are "music" and "singer". What I think makes great singers is different from many others. I'm fairly familiar with the qualities that stimulate pleasant (often emotional) responses within me.

 

Many of Diana Ankudinova's work gives me more pleasure, chills, goosebumps and emotional states than any artist I've heard in 65 years of listening, but some people for whom I've played tracks are unaffected.

 

Every time I'm out cruising in the car I get bombarded by shuddering cars blasting rap and other sounds that, to me, don't qualify as "music" or the vocalists as "singers" but I'm assuming the driver likes it and I know they call it music and the vocalists are famous so... I just wish they'd keep the volume down and the windows up.😁

[GregWormald]

11 hours ago, gmgraves said:

(Does anyone here remember Minnie Ripperton, a true coloratura soprano?).

Yes, yes, yes.

I was at the Rock Pile in Toronto to see Rotary Connection and she walked out of the dressing room and touched me on the way to stage—where she proceeded to blow me away. 

As well as the voice I remember her afro, it was fully round and extended beyond her shoulders. A memorable night. Thanks for the reminder.😀

 

She was gone way too young.☹️

[GregWormald]

I'm not an expert in anything but psychotherapy.

The words "objective" and "better/worse" always lead me to ask "What are the criteria and who gets to set them?"

I wouldn't let clients use those words without full specifications being provided.😄

 

[GregWormald]

off-topic—

On 9/1/2020 at 8:52 AM, sphinxsix said:

@GregWormald have you ever worked with audiophile patients e.g. via Zoom.? How much would that eventually cost.? Does desktop speakers quality matter in such situation.? 

😆

but IMO sort of deserves a serious answer. No acknowledged audiophiles via Zoom, no.

My remote sessions were the same as face-to-face, $100/hour before I retired.

Speaker quality had some relevance, as did video quality, otherwise the non-verbal subtleties got lost.

 

I did work with a fair number of artists though. It's amazing how many had 'traumatic' histories and it was always challenging to find ways of "improving their world" without destroying their creativity.

[GregWormald]

8 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

 

This is a very interesting topic.

In your experience - is it more often trauma than e.g. neurosis that in a way fuels their creativity?

I can't help thinking about James Hetfield doing psychotherapy (definitely connected also with his addiction tendencies) during the "St Anger" sessions and the later weaker (IMO) results of the band's work with some ambivalence - on one hand IMO it's quite easy to see how Hetfield had become a happier, more mature guy, on the other hand - both 'St Anger's and later albums quality shows that the band's creative potential hasn't been on par with the one they showed earlier in their career. This of course may be a coincidence - maybe the 'Tallica guys are simply 'Too old for rock'n'roll' but I've also heard about examples of artists who didn't want to do therapy out of their fear that it could destroy their creativity.

I really wonder what are the methods which can on one hand help to simply make an artist's life better and on the other hand aren't a danger to his creative powers..

 

For me, the reality was (and is) that every person needed to be treated individually, and they got to set their own goals. I've had clients say they'd rather be happier than creative. I've also treated highly creative people who had difficulties that appeared or were caused long after the creativity was evident. Others came to therapy to recover the creativity that trauma had seemingly deleted from their lives.

 

"In your experience - is it more often trauma than e.g. neurosis that in a way fuels their creativity?"

I never found the 'standard' diagnoses to be much good when looking at helping a person live the life they wanted. The diagnosis is only good for putting on paper for a clerk to read. (I did find some creative ways myself to fill in any required forms.😀 For instance, since whatever I did changed the way a person thought and behaved, I was quite happy to use the term "cognitive behavioural therapy"—even when it rarely matched the standard CBT techniques.)

[GregWormald]

Off Topic, still.

8 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

This is a very interesting topic.

In your experience - is it more often trauma than e.g. neurosis that in a way fuels their creativity?

I can't help thinking about James Hetfield doing psychotherapy (definitely connected also with his addiction tendencies) during the "St Anger" sessions and the later weaker (IMO) results of the band's work with some ambivalence - on one hand IMO it's quite easy to see how Hetfield had become a happier, more mature guy, on the other hand - both 'St Anger's and later albums quality shows that the band's creative potential hasn't been on par with the one they showed earlier in their career. This of course may be a coincidence - maybe the 'Tallica guys are simply 'Too old for rock'n'roll' but I've also heard about examples of artists who didn't want to do therapy out of their fear that it could destroy their creativity.

I really wonder what are the methods which can on one hand help to simply make an artist's life better and on the other hand aren't a danger to his creative powers..

For me, the reality was (and is) that every person needed to be treated individually, and they got to set their own goals. I've had clients say they'd rather be happier than creative. I've also treated highly creative people who had difficulties that appeared or were caused long after the creativity was evident. Others came to therapy to recover the creativity that trauma had seemingly deleted from their lives.

 

"In your experience - is it more often trauma than e.g. neurosis that in a way fuels their creativity?"

I never found the 'standard' diagnoses to be much good when looking at helping a person live the life they wanted. The diagnosis is only good for putting on paper for a clerk to read. (I did find some creative ways myself to fill in any required forms.😀 For instance, since whatever I did changed the way a person thought and behaved, I was quite happy to use the term "cognitive behavioural therapy"—even when it rarely matched the standard CBT techniques.)

 

"I really wonder what are the methods which can on one hand help to simply make an artist's life better and on the other hand aren't a danger to his creative powers.."

One of the ways (and there are quite a few) was to use trance to isolate the creativity and treat the trauma separately and then re-integrate the creativity.

[GregWormald]

As long as we're talking singers and not just voices, one of my favourites is Beth Hart—blues, and definitely a screamer.

[GregWormald]

How about one of the great vocal performances? (IMO) Jimmy Barnes isn't always to my taste but I can't watch and listen to this only once at a time. 

(And Joe Bonamassa's guitar work is 🥰.)