These are some of my personal favorites.
Classical Singers
Sopranos
- Kathleen Battle
- Barbara Bonney
- Maria Callas
- Natalie Dessay
- Renee Fleming
- Edita Gruberova
- Sylvia McNair
- Beverly Sills
- Cheryl Studer
- Joan Sutherland
- Kiri Te Kanawa
- Dawn Upshaw
- Deborah Voigt
Mezzos
- Cecilia Bartoli
- Susan Graham
- Marilyn Horne
- Christa Ludwig
- Frederica Von Stade
- Elina Garanca
Countertenors
- Brian Asawa
- David Daniels
- Drew Minter
- Bejun Mehta
Tenors
- Jussi Björling
- Andrea Bocelli
- Ian Bostridge
- Franco Corelli
- Plácido Domingo
- Jerry Hadley
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Fritz Wunderlich
Baritones and Basses
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
- Sherrill Milnes
- Samuel Ramey
- Bryn Terfel
- Mathias Goerne
Non-Classical Singers
Audra MacDonald – A music theater singer with a Juilliard-trained voice. Very expressive. I especially like the CD, How Glory Goes.
Baltimore Consort – A renaissance /Celtic folk group with a great lead singer, Custer LaRue.
Christine Lavin – A singer/songwriter who sounds very natural and easy to listen to. Her songs are about real life and sometimes very funny, like “The Shopping Cart of Love”. My favorite album is Attainable Love.
Ella Fitzgerald – What’s to say? Just about the greatest jazz singer ever.
Il Volo – Like The 3 Tenors but not strictly classical and very young. They hit it big when they were about 16 years old.
Ute Lemper – A German theater/jazz singer. Very intense and original as an interpreter. I love the dark cabaret songs on Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill . She’s not afraid to make unattractive sounds for emotional reasons and it really works.
Therese Schroeder-Sheker – If you want something really beautiful and relaxing, try Rosa Mystica.
Alfie Boe – Came to fame as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, but classically trained. Wow, what a tenor!
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – His name’s a mouthful, but just call him Iz. He’s the only Hawaiian musician I want to hear. A great musician. Perhaps his most famous song is “Over the Rainbow” blended with “What a Wonderful World”.
Bobby McFerrin – He’s so fun to listen to, you might not notice that he is a terrific singer. He has a free sound that he can use over a very wide range and can adapt to varying timbres. You may know him from “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
Other belters: Bernadette Peters, Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, Vanessa Williams