Female Singers of the 50s-60s-70s

My Lovely Bride and I were coming home from an evening out on Saturday night and were lsitening to our favorite 50s-60s-70s radio station.

Karen Carpenter came on and all we could think about was "what a waste of such a God-given talent." Why did not someone figure out the pain and suffering she was going through and attempt to help her?

We then began to think about others female singers from the same era who had the BEST voices. We agreed on four of them and had a disagreement on the fifth.

Here is the list in no particular order.

Karen Carpenter
Janis Joplin
Aretha Franklin
Mama Cass

My wife's fifth pick was Cher. I do not agree with her on that selection. IMHO, Cher sang the same type of song with the same kind of voice; really not very much range.

My fifth pick was Linda Ronstadt. She had a voice that put one in the mood (if you know what I mean). When she made the switch over to Latin themed songs, one could still feel the "power" of her voice.

Let us know what you think.

“We came out right in the middle of the hard-rock period... it was hard-rock everywhere! But we were ready to make our music, you know? And it was such a turnaround, I guess it caught people by surprise.” - Karen Carpenter