My Ten Favourite Female Singers

My List of favourite female singers starts with Karen Carpenter

I think that Karen Carpenter is the best female singer that I have been fortunate enough to hear. Unfortunately no longer with us I feel she has become a legend with a legion of loyal followers.The rest of the list is in no particular order of popularity.

Who I prefer to listen to depends on my mood at the time. Sometimes malencholy, sometimes happy.

I am taking the liberty of cheating a bit, with a duet. I'm sure you won't mind

Karen Carpenter

Karen Anne Carpenter was born on March 2, 1950 and to our great loss passed away on February 4, 1983'

Karen was a highly successful American singer who first came to prominence as a drummer.

Karen Carpenter's drumming skills, although much less generally known than her singing ability, were not unnoticed. Carpenter was placed first in Playboy's reader poll for Best Rock Drummer of 1975. But it is for her vocal performances that she is best remembered.

Karen with her brother Richard comprised "The Carpenters" and between them composed and sang many great songs.

Karen suffered from anorexia nervosa, a little known disease at the time. Apparently recovering, she died suddenly at the age of 32 from heart failure later attributed to complications related to her illness.

Karen Carpenter is my No 1 Female Singer I present for your listening pleasure a song that I never tire of hearing.

Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 and is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, author, actor and philanthropist, known for her prolific work in country music.

In the 44 years since her national chart debut, she remains the most successful female country music artist, with 25 number-one singles, a record for any female performer, and a record 42 top-10 country albums. She has the distinction of having performed on a top-5 country hit in each of the last five decades. Now those figures speak for themselves.

She is known for her distinctive mountain soprano, sometimes bawdy humor, flamboyant dress sense and voluptuous figure.

I realise that Dolly Parton will not be be on everyone's list of favorites, but hey this is my list, so there!

Dolly has written and sung some great songs, One in particular is the theme song from "Bodyguard" and sung by Witney Huston "I will always love you".

Personally I think Dolly's version which from memory she sang to Burt Reynolds in the "Best Little Whore House" ? is the better rendition.

Dolly Parton has to be on my list as one of the best. I offer this version of "Great Balls of Fire" as a tribute to her versitility.

k d lang

Kathryn Dawn Lang OC ( Order of Canada) was born on November 2, 1961, in Edmonton, Alberta and is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter.

Lang first came to the attention of the US audiences when she toured with Roy Orbison as one of three female backup singers.

Her career received a huge boost when Orbison chose her to record a duet of his standard, "Crying".

This duet won them the Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration with Vocals" in 1989.

The song was first used in the Jon Cryer film "Hiding Out" released in 1987.

Lang won the American Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her 1989 album, "Absolute Torch and Twang".

In 2003, she won her fourth Grammy Award, this time for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her collaboration with Tony Bennett on "A Wonderful World".

On June 3, 2008, it was announced that she would receive a star on Canada's "Walk of Fame".

In April 2008, lang spent time in Melbourne, Australia, this was in connection with her support for the Tibet human rights issues. On April 24, 2008, she joined pro-Tibet protesters in Canberra as the Beijing 2008 Olympic torch relay made its way through the Australian capital.

What list would be complete without kd lang. I have killed two birds with one stone by presenting her singing a song written by a favourite of mine Roy Orbison

Diana Krall

Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC was born on November 16, 1964 and  is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer.

Diana is known for her graceful contralto vocals.

Diana Krall  married British musician Elvis Costello on December 6, 2003 at Elton John's estate outside London.

Diana's  and Elvis's twin sons Dexter and Frank , were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.

Diana's award include:-

Grammy's for Jazz Vocal Performance in 1999 and Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2002.

Diana Krall has become my favourite Jazz female singer by virtue of this one song "East of the Sun" (and West of the Moon)

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand who was born Barbara Joan Streisand, on April 24, 1942 is an American singer and film and theatre actress.

Barbra also reached great heights as a composer, political activist, film producer and director.

Barbra Streisand has won Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Original Song as well as multiple Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Golden Globe Awards.

Miss Streisand is one of the most successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and one of the best selling solo recording artists in the US.

Barbra Streisand has sold over 71 million albums. She is the highest ranking female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's Top Selling Artists list.

Streisand is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award.

Barbra Streisand is on my list of female singers because she can sing just about any type of song. Here I give you "Woman in Love"

Bette Midler

"The Divine Miss M,"

Bette Midler was born on December 1, 1945 and is an American singer, actress and comedienne, also known (as her informal stage name) as The Divine Miss M.

During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.

Midler began her singing career in the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M, in 1973.

Bette looks back on her bathhouse days with pride and often says that she wears the label 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride″.

I present her in this article in the role that I adore her in and I am sure you will if not get a laugh at least raise a smile.

Without any further ado I present:-

" Dolores DeLago and the Delago Sisters and her swinging balls!"

Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack who was born on February 10, 1937 is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician.

Roberta is notable in the areas of jazz, soul, R&B and folk. Flack is best known for singles such as:-

• "Killing Me Softly with His Song",
• "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face",
• "Where Is the Love"
• "The Closer I Get to You" (two of her many duets with Donny Hathaway),
• "Feel Like Makin' Love".

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" won the 1973 Grammy Record of the Year and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" won the same award at the Grammy Awards of 1974. She and U2 are the only artists to win the award in back-to-back years.

Eva Cassidy

Eva Marie Cassidy was born on February 2, 1963 and died, sadly at the tender young age of 33, on November 2, 1996 .

Eva was an American vocalist, musician, and artist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics.

She released her first album "The Other Side", a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown in 1992 followed by a live solo album, "Live at Blues Alley" in 1996.

Eva Cassidy was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, DC when she died of melanoma in 1996.

Four years later, Cassidy's music was brought to the attention of UK audiences when her versions of "Over the Rainbow" and "Fields of Gold" were played by Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2.

I must confess to not knowing of Eva until I heard her version of "Fields of Gold" one night on the radio. It nearly drove me mad trying to discover who was this lady with the voice of an angel.

I love version of "Fields of Gold" written by Sting.

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, CC, OQ was born on March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec and  is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress.

Celine Dion was born to a large, impoverished family, and emerged as a teenage star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record.

 In 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retirement from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

In 2004, after surpassing 175 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of all time.

 In April 2007 Sony BMG announced that Celine Dion had sold over 200 million albums worldwide. That is quite an achievement, and a tribute to her talent.

Shania Twain and Anne Murray

Shania Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards, on August 28, 1965 and is a Canadian singer and songwriter in the country and pop music genres.

Her third album "Come on Over" is the best-selling album of all time by a female musician and the best-selling album in the history of country music.

Shania Twain is the only female musician to have three albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and is also the second best selling artist in Canada, behind fellow Canadian Céline Dion, with three of her studio albums being certified double diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association.

Anne Murray

Anne Murray, was born Morna Anne Murray on June 20, 1945and  is a Canadian singer.

Anne Murray has performed in Pop, Country and Adult Contemporary styles. So far, her albums have sold over 54 million copies.

Murray was the first Canadian female solo singer to reach #1 on the U.S. charts, and also the first to earn a gold record for one of her signature songs, "Snowbird" (1970).

Anne Murray has been classed a role model for other Canadian international success stories such as Céline Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Shania Twain.

Anne is  also the first woman and the first Canadian to win "Album of the Year" at the Country Music Association Awards for her 1984 album "A Little Good News".