Thursday, September 11, 2008

Voices I Would Steal if I Could

In no particular order:

Madeleine Peyroux
Joss Stone
Amy Winehouse
Sade
Adele
Lauryn Hill
Etta James
Leona Lewis
Alicia Keyes
Christina Aguilera
Nikka Costa
Des’ree
Mariah Carey
Nelly Furtado
Ingrid Michaelson
Keyshia Cole
Sheryl Crow
India Arie
Dido
Nina Simone
Norah Jones

There are certainly more I would happily wear in a little sea shell around my neck like the witch in The Little Mermaid. I would take Traci Chapman’s voice if I didn’t have to sing depressing pseudo-folk music with it, or Whitney Houston’s voice pre drugs and Bobbie Brown. I go back and forth on Mary J. Blige. It might be more attitude than talent that I admire in her case. Not that she’s a bad singer.

It’s hard to tell if I’d want one of the single name performers voices (Rihanna, Ciara, them folks) since if I’m going to get into vocal larceny, I want some serious power, depth, vocal range, all that stuff. Considering that thought, I think Mariah Carey is on the top of the list. Because let’s face it, that voice is totally wasted on her.