Greatest Heavy Metal singers ever.

[Bluzmann57]

Ok, I will admit I rarely listen to today's metal music (I am Bluzmann after all), but back in the day... Anyway, here are some of my nominees, if you will, for best ever metal singers.
Ozzy Osborne. Black Sabbath was a GREAT band and among my first exposures to that genre. When I bought "Masters of Reality", my mom had to listen to it to make sure her son wasn't some devil worshiping freak. Ever since then, I was enamored.

Ronnie James Dio. Man this guy could, and likely still can, belt out a tune. Listen to his stuff with Rainbow and Elf.

W. Axl Rose. In my opinion, sort of redefined the genre. He was a total crazy bastard and sang about real life experiences. Kind of a metal Mick Jagger. Too bad he screwed up that band. They were awfully good.

I did not include Robert Plant on this list because I do not consider Zeppelin to be a metal band. They were a Blues band who, ripped off some great Blues tunes and did not pay royalties to the artists who wrote said tunes and later evolved into sort of an experimental band.
Feel free to add your own. In fact, I encourage it.

[LeftyMom]

1. Your list isn't bad, but Dio should be first.

Ozzy could sing before the drugs fucked him up, but Dio COULD FUCKING SING!!! and still can.

[Common Sense Party]

25. Dio has the quintessential metal voice. No one can touch him.

Next in line: Halford. Udo Dirkschneider. Geoff Tate. Dickinson.

[bluesbassman]

34. Saw Dio with Heaven and Hell last year.

Your right he still can sing. Wasn't holding the high notes as long as he used to, and got a little gravely towards the end, but he's frickin' 66 years old and has been singing since 1957!

[City of Mills]

2. I nominate Rob Halford - Judas Priest

Also, Bruce Dickinson - Iron Maiden.

[Bluzmann57]

7. Yeah. Always liked Judas Priest.

Saw them in Cedar Rapids, IA several years ago and actually almost choked because there was so much damn smoke during the entrance. But he rode out of the demon's mouth on his Harley during the entrance and that was awesome.

[susanna]

51. I'm with you re: Halford - think he was underrated.

Some of JP's stuff was on fire. Good call.

[Skittles]

85. EXCELLENT CALL

:thumbsup:

[DS1]

3. ranging 2 metal genres

Geoff Tate
Phil Anselmo

[SKKY]

4. For my money it's either Klaus Meine of The Scorpions, or Ian Astbury of The Cult...

[flvegan]

5. Mike Patton.

Did his share of "metal". Awesome vocalist. Also, another vote for Axl rose.

I'd nominate Ian Astbury, but I don't consider The Cult metal.

[LeftyMom]

12. seconded

I'm still fucking bummed I didn't get to see him in 1992 or whenever the hell that was.

And you should post the story with the italian dressing already.

[susanna]

50. Agreed...Astbury never seemed metal to me.

He was all sorts of awesome, though. LOVE the Cult.

[City of Mills]

6. King Diamond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpX-QdG3hgU :)

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

21. Sounds like a chipmunk on helium

:evilgrin:

[loveable liberal]

8. Bob Mould.

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

20. Great singer, but when was he ever metal?

[loveable liberal]

79. I grayed the lines a bit, I know.....

but give a listen to the Huskers playing "Eight Miles High"... If thats not metal, I dont know what is...

[riverdeep]

9. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden.

He's the epitome of great heavy metal singing. Nickname: the air raid siren. Today's metal 'singers' aren't appealing to me at all. Which is a shame cause the music can be interesting (Meshuggah, for example).

Led Zeppelin stole as much or as little as many other artists before or since, whether it's Elvis Presley or Paul Simon in the eighties and nineties. They also took the music and made it their own, like all great musicians do. Zep also 'stole' from the California crowd, like Joni Mitchell, and made that their own. They weren't like Vanilla Ice. And they are most definitely NOT metal, as you said, they are hard rock- big difference.

[T_i_B]

54. Another vote for Bruce Dickinson from me!

[mvd]

10. I'm more of a pop/rock, classic rock, and singer/songwriter person, but..

my favorites are:

James Hetfield of Metallica up through The Black Album
Ozzy Osbourne
If they count, Serj Tankian of System Of A Down
Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden

[Taverner]

11. Robert Plant, Bruce Dickinson, Axl Rose (sorry), Ronnie James Dio

[Tikki]

13. Not Heavy Metal, I guess Speed Metal...

Lemmy....Motörhead



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKrwvr0dbec

Tikki

[Throd]

81. Lemmy! FUCK YEAH!

Nice Flipper graphic, BTW

[Fox Mulder]

89. Agreed.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

14. Ian Gillan from Deep Purple's heyday

Not only a great singer, but the greatest screamer ever. Only dogs could hear some of the notes he hit back in the day.

[datasuspect]

15. axl rose is the poor man's jim dandy

[mitchum]

40. And BOA had guitarplayers who were much better than that Slash guy with his stupid hat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osq3o7uMSJU

[datasuspect]

58. so many have copped from BOA it's almost silly

never understand why BOA didn't get their due.

[jus_the_facts]

16. Ray Gillen....may he rest in peace....

...sang for Black Sabbath late 80's but was better known for lead vocals of the group Badlands with former Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee....he's got an awesome voice and was extremely good lookin' too....he died of AIDS back in '93 unfortunately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWUUdzmOyKQ

[leeroysphitz]

17. Pat Boone. Duh.

[LostInAnomie]

18. Phil Anselmo

[MrSlayer]

19. Halford, Dio, Araya, Bach, Plant, Dickinson, Tate, Soto, King Diamond, Nathan Explosion, Doro

And of course, Lemmy.

[jus_the_facts]

24. That picture of Sebastian......

....I want him to kiss my lips...but not the one's on my face...FUCK!!! :evilgrin:

:hi:

[MrSlayer]

26. Yes he was quite good looking.

And what a voice!

I hung out with him one time after a Metallica concert in 1991. Very cool dude.

[jus_the_facts]

28. Whoa...how awesome.....

....and you're a hottie too...I definitely DO recall! :9

[MrSlayer]

29. Awww. :blush:

My buddy has a picture of us together from that night somewhere, if I can get him to find it I'll send it to you.

[jus_the_facts]

31. OMFG....please and thank You in advance....

...you blush and I'll er...GUSH! :evilgrin:

[Kat45]

47. Yes, Doro. I really love her vocals.

And I'm not that into female vocalists, for whatever reason.

[eyepaddle]

64. Pu t me down as another vote for Halford, (I concur on the rest of your list though)

Rob has just overed so damn many different moods and styles--all while remaining very Judas Priest. You Say Yes, to Painkiller, to Victim of Changes, to Turbo Lover, and so on....

[Lyric]

22. There's "singing" in heavy metal?

I always thought it was a lot like punk rock; noise with occasional grunts and screams to give it a "human" aspect.

:P
:hide:

[w8liftinglady]

39. lol..for a minute I thought John McCain was here (j/k)

:evilgrin:

[D23MIURG23]

43. They start singing to let their fans know they have sold out.

:evilgrin:

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

23. Glenn Danzig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk5xC-fjulk

[susanna]

52. OK, I'd forgotten Danzig - good on you for bringing him up.

Damn. Astrozombies is one of my all time favorites. I know it's from his Misfits days, but that song still gets me going. Love. It.

Your link was cool, too - I hadn't heard that song in a long time. Good call.

[Rhythm]

78. Heartily seconded... tremendous talent, and always great 'live'

I'm just mad right now, because the 'Blackest of the Black' tour isn't coming anywhere near here... *pouts*

[MrSlayer]

27. Fuck! Wrong spot.

self delete.

[Phillycat]

30. Axl Rose and Chris Cornell.

Far and away.

And if you don't think Soundgarden played metal, well, then you haven't listened to much Soundgarden.

[jus_the_facts]

32. I gotta agree with ya...I love Axl...

....he was awesome...not lookin' so hot these days though...sadly. :hi:

[Phillycat]

33. No, he didn't age well...neither did Sebastian Bach, sadly.

I saw your post upthread - he was such a beautiful man back in the day. I wonder how my other metal guy Mark Slaughter aged? Probably not well at all. LOL!

[jus_the_facts]

35. Oh Mark...sigh....

....he's got a website...he's multi-talented...I tripped on it..but he's not the baby faced beauty he was back in the day either...Slaughter put on ONE HELLUVA show here...Fly to the Angels...still makes me squall when I listen to it. ;D

http://www.markslaughter.net/

[mvd]

36. Hi, jus_the_facts!

Haven't talked to you in a while.. how are you doing? I'm hanging in there.

What did you think of my list above?

[jus_the_facts]

37. Hey mvd...I'm hangin' in too....

....excellent choices my friend...I'm a metal head...as you already know...there aren't too many that I don't like! :D

:hi: :hug:

[mvd]

53. Glad you liked it

I can't stand much modern metal - it often sounds like a parody and quite similar - it's the one genre that I'll agree has gotten worse.

Night! :hug: :hi:

[mitchum]

41. He looks like John Voight auditioning for a remake of "10"

[jus_the_facts]

45. Bwahahahahaha....

....that's SO sad!!! :rofl:

[w8liftinglady]

62. "Fell on Black Days" Is one of my top 10 favs

http://www.interscope.com/artist/player/default.aspx/mid/2699/aid/441

[w8liftinglady]

38. Jonathon Davis and Layne Staley

2 of my favorite groups..Korn and Alice in Chains

[Lethe]

48. you can debate if AIC was metal or not, but Layne was the best vocalist in the world

impossible to imitate or copy....totally one of kind

[w8liftinglady]

55. he still brings tears to my eyes

"Rooster" and "man in the box"
What masterpieces

[D23MIURG23]

42. Peter Steele, Ihsahn...

Lee Dorian, Nicholas Bullen, and Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death, these 3 did the vocals on Scum), Tom Warrior, and of course who could forget Lemmy von Motorhead.

[w8liftinglady]

44. I love the variety,,I;m gonna have to go to u-tube

[Kat45]

46. It seems that metal is being defined rather broadly here.

I think Axl is/was one of the best vocalists. Sebastian Bach too. But I'd consider their bands to be hard rock rather than metal. And since it's being defined broadly, I'd add Plant to the list. Bon Scott and Brian Johnson (yes, I like both of them a lot). And I loved Joel Ellis from Cats In Boots. And of course Lemmy is uniquely Lemmy. Edited to add Chris Cornell, an amazing voice.

Regarding metal, a number of folks here are mentioning Dio and Bruce Dickinson: I can understand why, because they both have excellent voices, technically speaking. But I can't stand either of their vocals. The reason? They're too bombastic--they sing everything as if it's heralding the apocalypse or something equally of major importance. It drives me crazy.

[Broken_Hero]

49. hmm, the first ones that pop out to me

James Hetfield

Dio

Bruce Dickinson

Ozzy

Keith Caputo

Jonathan Davis

[panhead1961]

56. Chris Cornell with soundgarden

The man screams in tune

[w8liftinglady]

63. this is their most beautiful song.I HAD to listen to it

when I read your post.It goes strait to the soul

http://www.interscope.com/artist/player/default.aspx/mid/2699/aid/441

[panhead1961]

68. Saw Soundgarden at Lolopaloza

Back when metalica and the ramones were on the bill.

The Temple of the dog CD was preety heart felt also. "I'll go hungry" with Eddie Vedder

[w8liftinglady]

70. I wasn't sure if Vedder fit here....my all time favorite :)

[WildEyedLiberal]

57. DIO, Maynard James Keenan, Tarja Turunen, Matt Barlow, Nergal, Serj Tankian, Tom Araya

Different genres of metal, all awesome

[w8liftinglady]

60. especially my new "fantasy",Serj Tankian-so talented

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZSKvSz1roQ

[AwakeAtLast]

71. Awesome choice!

Check my sig line! :bounce:

[w8liftinglady]

72. AWESOME!!!!!!

[mduffy31]

59. Everyone forget about AC/DC

Bon Scott and Brian Johnson could bring it

[w8liftinglady]

61. now,THAT'S true.

adding them to the list for sure

[Va Lefty]

74. Damn straight !

[susanna]

87. I thought that too, but got involved in another thread.

The AC/DC gentlemen were a class all their own. Rock on!

[Kat45]

88. Everyone didn't forget AC/DC.

I mentioned them (post 46).

[mainegreen]

65. Best female metal singer ever: Dawn Crosby.

Hands down.

[old mark]

66. Comment on Zep:

I agree they were not metal, but maybe they inspired some.
FWIW, Hubert Sumlin, great blues guitarist who first wrote "Killin Floor" sued Led Zep for royalties and was awarded several million dollars. I was pissed that they made him go to court for his money - he wrote, played, and recorded the song at least 10 years before Led Zep was formed. They also did songs by several other bluse artists as well as "I'm Gonna Leave You", a folk song recorded by a woman whose name I can't recall.
I know they eventually paid most of those people reyalties, but they stalled everyone and paid grudgingly.
Great musicians, shitty people.

mark

[Rabrrrrrr]

67. DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO DIO. And Ian Gillan, Ozzy, and Queensryche and Pearl Jam guys.

[WildEyedLiberal]

76. I don't think you mentioned DIO

His awesomeness requires that his name be typed in all caps, always.

:headbang: DIO :headbang:

[Rabrrrrrr]

80. Yes - to spell DIO with small letters is to insult God.

Literally, in a weird language-al kind of way.

:rock:

:headbang: DIO :headbang:

[dysfunctional press]

69. Tommy Bolin.

[Strawman]

73. Dio, Halford, Dickinson

The Holy Trinity of Metal Vocalists.

I think Halford and Dickinson were planning to cut an album together at one time then it fizzled. They sing together on a track on Halford's Resurrection album "The One You Love to Hate." That's a fantastic, overlooked metal album, Halford's Resurrection. I love it.

[Joe Fields]

75. Bon Scott

[jus_the_facts]

86. "It's a long way to the top....if you wanna rock'n'roll..."

:headbang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNjbky--lbk

[Westegg]

77. Your dissing of Zeppelin confounds me...

...and saddens me, as I think it's incredibly unfair. I'm not going to get into it with you now, but I'll just say that most of the bands people will reply to in terms of your post will have been influenced by Plant and Zeppelin.

Having said that, Ian Gillam is a vocalist I have been amazed by for over 30 years now. Purple Mach 2 with Ian and Blackmore is killer. Their stuff doesn't stand up in the long run, however, the way Zep's does. I'm sure you have an explanation for that Bluzmann57. However, mine is different.

So mote be it.

[Throd]

82. Oderous Urungous of GWAR!!!

GWAR GWAR GWAR GWAR!!!

[Zavulon]

83. If you consider earlier Queensryche to be metal,

which I do (their EP and then Warning), Geoff Tate belongs on the list.

Dio is the best ever, though.

One guy who I doubt many will think of but who had an amazing metal voice: Tony Martin (Black Sabbath). Listen to Tyr and you'll be convinced.

Bruce Dickinson should be on any list, too.

Halford, of course.

By the way, even though I don't consider Quiet Riot to be real metal, the late Kevin Dubrow had a great voice for the genre.

[johnfunk]

84. My votes to Lemmy and the late, great Wendy O. Williams

Motorhead still delivers the wall of noise. And Wendy was great for more than just that hawt, toned body. The Plasmatics were pure lascivious mayhem!