The Greatest Rock Vocalists Of All Time

[Devilwin]

We did guitarists. Now let's do singers! My top ten.
1. Freddie Mercury
2. Paul McCartney
3. Brian Wilson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Smokey Robinson
6. John Denver
7. Paul Rogers
8. John Lennon
9. Roger Daltrey
10.Burton Cummings

[bjornolf]

We did guitarists. Now let's do singers! My top ten.
1. Freddie Mercury
2. Paul McCartney
3. Brian Wilson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Smokey Robinson
6. John Denver
7. Paul Rogers
8. John Lennon
9. Roger Daltrey
10.Burton Cummings

Rock singers? I might argue one or two there.

Not that they aren't great singers, more the "rock" part.

[OldPhiKap]

Roy Orbison had a five-octave range. Wow.

[Newton_14]

We did guitarists. Now let's do singers! My top ten.
1. Freddie Mercury
2. Paul McCartney
3. Brian Wilson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Smokey Robinson
6. John Denver
7. Paul Rogers
8. John Lennon
9. Roger Daltrey
10.Burton Cummings

For Rock/Pop it's easily Bon Jovi for me.

[Devilwin]

Rock singers? I might argue one or two there.

Not that they aren't great singers, more the "rock" part.

I know. Denver is one. Who is the other? Smokey?
And I forgot Orbison. He was certainly awesome.

[duke74]

We did guitarists. Now let's do singers! My top ten.
1. Freddie Mercury
2. Paul McCartney
3. Brian Wilson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Smokey Robinson
6. John Denver
7. Paul Rogers
8. John Lennon
9. Roger Daltrey
10.Burton Cummings

No disagreements here, but no Steve Perry? Might be one of the best pure rocker voices.

[duke74]

We did guitarists. Now let's do singers! My top ten.
1. Freddie Mercury
2. Paul McCartney
3. Brian Wilson
4. Elvis Presley
5. Smokey Robinson
6. John Denver
7. Paul Rogers
8. John Lennon
9. Roger Daltrey
10.Burton Cummings

Another thought - if John Denver is included, then Gordon Lightfoot should be.

[ncexnyc]

Well here is another thread you'll find only on DBR.

This one is interesting because, how do you define vocalist? Are we asking who has the best set of pipes or are we asking the best front man or a combination of the two?

I'm also curious is this limited to just males or can females play as well?

[ricks68]

Think, Crusties, think! It's Orbison, maybe Cooke, and how about Mick. And, how can Morrison be left out? In fact, maybe both Morrisons. What about the lead singers of the Drifters or the Temps, or so many other R & R groups? Or, one of my favorites of all favorites, Mr. Excitement------Jackie Wilson? What I am seeing here is like a lot of posters thinking that Duke basketball wasn't really on the map until Coach K came along.😜 (And I left out so many more.)

ricks

[Doria]

In addition to those mentioned (and I can't argue this is a pretty subjective pick), I would toss Ann Wilson of Heart in there. This is not a judgment on quality of material, but the pipes are still strong a pretty varied forty years later.

[BandAlum83]

There's Freddie Mercury and everyone else. Lots of great, talented artists to argue over, but for me, Freddie and everyone else.

[Devilwin]

I gave my top ten, those I prefer. Joe Perry is great, and there are many others. As for females, they can play of course, I used to love Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson too.

[moonpie23]

Freddy Mercury
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Burton Cummings
Elvis
Brian Wilson
Robert Plant
Roy Orbison
Tom Petty
Jim Morrison
Mick Jagger

[JasonEvans]

There's Freddie Mercury and everyone else. Lots of great, talented artists to argue over, but for me, Freddie and everyone else.

This!!!

It is not my favorite Queen song, but just listen to the first minute of Somebody to Love... he's stunningly good.

[Reddevil]

Honorable mentions:

Brad Delp - Boston
Lou Gramm - Foreigner
Rik Emmitt - Triumph (the band, not the dog)

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

There's Freddie Mercury and everyone else. Lots of great, talented artists to argue over, but for me, Freddie and everyone else.

Agree with this...

1. Freddie Mercury
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Everyone else

[Tommac]

A great singer (in my opinion) and not mentioned already is Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. Still touring and recording with Purple to this day.

[YmoBeThere]

If we are just talking singing voices here, I would suggest Axl Rose should be in the conversation.

[moonpie23]

Robin Zander - cheap trick....maybe top 15...

[ncexnyc]

A great singer (in my opinion) and not mentioned already is Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. Still touring and recording with Purple to this day.

Anyone who doubts this needs to listen to Ian and Ritchie trading notes on, A Strange Kind of Woman. And why Ritchie Blackmore wasn't mentioned on the guitarist thread is beyond me.