Top 25 Favorite Singers countdown thread! (Top 2 Revealed!!!)

[TAC]

After consulting Wiki, I have 2 Ayreon singers.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Depending upon who is on your list, you might have even more with Star One. 

[TAC]

Depending upon who is on your list, you might have even more with Star One.

According to Wiki, there's three Star One albums, right? Well, none of those people made my list.

[lonestar]

Crap.. Forgot about Anneke too... And just realized I left off Suzuka Nakamura as well, that girl has one of the most dynamic voices around.

[KevShmev]

With only a few hours to go for anyone to get in a list, a few things that surprised me:

-Steven Wilson did not make a single list.  Given how popular he and Porcupine Tree are here, I figured a few people would find a way to squeeze him in, but no one has yet.  He barely missed the cut for me. 

-It took till last night for Meat Loaf to finally make a list.  I guess I figured given his pedigree that he'd get a little more love, but this forum collectively appears to be way more into metal than anything else.  That appears more than obvious when looking at the singers making these lists.

-Given how much pushback I got from Haken fans when I struggled to get into them years ago due to Ross Jennings' voice, the lack of support for him in this was glaring.  He has made only two lists, with not making the top 20 in either.

[TAC]

Interesting tidbits.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah, I'd thought Wilson would be in too, if only for the reason that a lot of people seem to figure that if they like the band so much, they must like the vocals too.  I'm sure Geddy was on numerous lists.  Maybe some people really do love his voice, but I have to wonder if Geddy sung over the music of a reasonably similar band they didn't like whether it would really improve their opinion of that band much. 

Similar thing with Haken and Jennings.  I used to be a lot more into them (even have a hoodie I still wear occasionally after having seen them live), but his voice is part of why I just don't listen to them nearly as much as I used to. 

DTF does seem to have slid towards metal over time, but that almost seems true in the prog world at large.  Many more bands getting heavier, downtuned or extended range guitars, double bass, sometimes growls, even some softer bands have beefed up their production over the years.  And this is reflected in forum tastes, prog rock-only fans seem more of a minority now than they were in the 00s from my recollection. 

[KevShmev]

Yeah, even though genre labels can drive me a little bonkers, only four singers who are in bands that get the metal tag (as a main genre, meaning not counting bands who might have had a few songs some might call metal like Rush or Queen) made my top 25.

[lonestar]

I was one of the Jennings peeps, though he was low on my list. No SW for me though, while his music is genius, it's not because of his vocals. He's pretty meh as a singer overall.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

There's another counting game.  I have 6-7 singers on my list who've never done metal. 

[Glasser]

22 of mine are not metal singers.

[TAC]

I have 25 Metal singers!

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Another 10 of mine have done a significant non-metal release (and not just acoustic versions of a metal project). 

[HOF]

I’ve got 2 that I’m fairly confident metal fans would label as “metal” vocalists. Another 6 or 7 who might fit more in the hard rock label.

[Lethean]

Six Ayreon/Star One singers.

I guess 22 metal singers.

I love Geddy Lee's voice and it was part of what drew me to Rush in the first place.

[SwedishGoose]

I'd say
7 or 8 metal singers
7 Ayreon sigers

[wolfking]

It may surprise some but I don't have 25 metal singers.

[twosuitsluke]

Taylor Swift now has a better chance of making this than Steven Wilson, on a prog forum. Fucking love you DTF!

For the record, I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift but I love that people around here give zero fucks and unashamedly like what they like 

[WardySI]

It may surprise some but I don't have 25 metal singers.

Same! 

In fact by my count about 10 on my list would fall outside the metal genre

[KevShmev]

The submissions period is over.

Now, the fun of tallying these up and starting the write-ups begins. 

[SwedishGoose]

The submissions period is over.

Now, the fun of tallying these up and starting the write-ups begins. 

How many singers in total now?

[KevShmev]

Thanks again to everyone who participated and submitted a list. The top 25 will be taken from 36 lists, with the posters listed below.

pg1067   
elefantStone   
wolfking   
WardySI   
Dave_Manchester   
Animal
Tomislav95   
SwedishGoose   
ZirconBlue   
LithoJazzoSphere   
jingle.boy   
Lethean   
Stadler   
The Realm   
SeRoX   
lonestar   
Glasser   
Metropolaris   
DragonAttack   
Samsara   
devieira73
Zoom E   
HOF   
Puppies_On_Acid   
coz   
TAC   
cramx3   
Cool Chris   
hefdaddy42   
bosk1   
Dream Team   
CharlesPL   
Adami   
DTwwbwMP   
twosuitslake
KevShmev      

[KevShmev]

The submissions period is over.

Now, the fun of tallying these up and starting the write-ups begins. 

How many singers in total now?

374 singers total.

[SwedishGoose]

The submissions period is over.

Now, the fun of tallying these up and starting the write-ups begins. 

How many singers in total now?

374 singers total.

So the last 3 lists added 30 new singers... well done

[jingle.boy]

With only a few hours to go for anyone to get in a list, a few things that surprised me:

-Steven Wilson did not make a single list.  Given how popular he and Porcupine Tree are here, I figured a few people would find a way to squeeze him in, but no one has yet.  He barely missed the cut for me. 

-It took till last night for Meat Loaf to finally make a list.  I guess I figured given his pedigree that he'd get a little more love, but this forum collectively appears to be way more into metal than anything else.  That appears more than obvious when looking at the singers making these lists.

-Given how much pushback I got from Haken fans when I struggled to get into them years ago due to Ross Jennings' voice, the lack of support for him in this was glaring.  He has made only two lists, with not making the top 20 in either.

Meat's lack of inventory is the only thing that prevented him from making my list.

The other two points don't shock me at all, and somewhat validate my opinions of said two artists.

[KevShmev]

Let's get a few fun facts out of the way early:

-There were two singers who were put at number 1 on a list and were not put on any other list: Marjan Welman and Mark Knopfler.
-To dispel the mystery now, Elvis Presley did not make the top 25; he finished 45th.
-Only four singers appeared on at least half of the 36 lists, and the high total was 26.
-Two different singers tied for being listed the most at number 1 (5 lists each).

[TAC]

I have never heard of Marjan Welman.

[jingle.boy]

Let's get a few fun facts out of the way early:

-There were two singers who were put at number 1 on a list and were not put on any other list: Marjan Welman and Mark Knopfler.
-To dispel the mystery now, Elvis Presley did not make the top 25; he finished 45th.
-Only four singers appeared on at least half of the 36 lists, and the high total was 26.
-Two different singers tied for being listed the most at number 1 (5 lists each).

I'll bet Knopfler was Dave M's.

[ReaperKK]

Let's get a few fun facts out of the way early:

-There were two singers who were put at number 1 on a list and were not put on any other list: Marjan Welman and Mark Knopfler.
-To dispel the mystery now, Elvis Presley did not make the top 25; he finished 45th.
-Only four singers appeared on at least half of the 36 lists, and the high total was 26.
-Two different singers tied for being listed the most at number 1 (5 lists each).

I'll bet Knopfler was Dave M's.

Knopfler is a fantastic singer who compliments Dire Straits perfectly. I passed on doing a list but if I did he would be top 10, maybe top 5.

I'm not surprised to see that SW didn't make the list. His voice fits the style of music he writes perfectly but I've never thought "Wow, his voice really elevated that song!".

[Tomislav95]

Knopfler is my favorite guitarist but didn't even consider him for top 25 singer.
Said that, I wonder how many time I'll when I realize I forgot someone.

[TAC]

I wonder how many time I'll when I realize I forgot someone.

I'm not worried about that happening for me.

There were only a couple of guys I wished I could've gotten on my list.

[twosuitsluke]

Knopfler is my favorite guitarist but didn't even consider him for top 25 singer.
Said that, I wonder how many time I'll when I realize I forgot someone.

I was about to guess you were the other guy to send Knobler, but as you know any guess I make about you is wrong, so I should've known!

[SwedishGoose]

-Two different singers tied for being listed the most at number 1 (5 lists each).

My number one should be one of those but probably isn"t

[twosuitsluke]

I feel confident my number 1 will make the list. There are plenty of fans of the band on the forum, and I feel if you are a fan of this band, you'll rate him pretty highly, he has a great set of pipes.

[Dave_Manchester]

Let's get a few fun facts out of the way early:

-There were two singers who were put at number 1 on a list and were not put on any other list: Marjan Welman and Mark Knopfler.

For shame, DTF. For shame.

I was also the (apparently) lone vote for Meat Loaf, which surprises me a little.

As for Steven Wilson, I generally like his music in spite of his vocals rather than because of them, the exception being Grace For Drowning (his best album in my opinion), where I think his characterless voice actually suits the unsettling and fey tone of the record.