Favourite/Unusual voices

Which artists have some of your favourite voices? Sometimes I love a singer and all of their songs, but only a few singers really have a voice that I love to listen to over and over. I love Katy Perry and all of her songs, but she doesn't have a voice that is that special to me, it's distinct to her, but it doesn't blow me away.

I am head over heels in love with Rebecca Ferguson's voice. Goddamn, she gives me chills all over.


It's so rich and sultry, and just... omg, amazing. It's like musical caramel. She just comes across as so nice and sophisticated too. She's so shy and completely unaware of what she does.



Birdy. Birdy covered Ed Sheeran's A Team, and I love the original but damn, Birdy gives it something else. Her voice with those lyrics just makes me well up.

You can never say Dave Mustaine is a great vocalist but man is his voice distinctive and it really grows on you.


What can i say about Tarja that isn't already well known? She has the voice of a goddess.


And finally, someone much less well known than the previous two, but he deserves to be a lot bigger than he is. It's Adrian Hates of Diary of Dreams.

Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Her voice can be high-pitched and unusual and soft and full of feeling and I love it. The difference between Black Tongue or Date With The Night vs. Skeletons is amazing.

Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco. This man can sing and he has a beautiful voice. Panic! at the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies (acoustic), Panic! at the Disco - Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Off Her Clothes (acoustic).

Lana Del Rey is an obvious choice for probably many people. She's so haunting to me. Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Amy Winehouse. I miss her. :( Amy Winehouse - Valerie

Nate Ruess from fun/The Format. His voice is completely inspiring - there is no other way to put it. Seeing him sing live makes you feel like you can do anything. fun. - Barlights

Tom Waits. His raspy, creepy, deep voice is unmatched by any other that I can even think of, and this song is such a good example of that. Tom Waits - God's Away on Business

Erica Winnerstrom from The Heartless Bastards is probably my favorite female vocalist besides Jenny Lewis. I've never heard a voice like hers in my whole life. Heartless Bastards - The Mountain

Justin Warfield from She Wants Revenge. His voice has this monotonous kind of tone to it, but it's also kindof a little bit strange and a little bit creepy, which makes me like it. She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart

And Jenny Lewis. She can convey so much emotion in her voice and it completely sets the tone of the song she's singing. She can sound sassy or sad or regretful or haunting or just plain fun as all hell, and I love her folksy sort of twang. There is a reason she's used in so many projects (The Postal Service, The Watson Twins, Eric Burdon from The Animals, etc) and why her personal projects (Rilo Kiley, Jenny and Johnny, self-titled) do so well. She's so diverse and flexible and just all-around amazing. This song she does with Elvis Costello is an example of how she makes a song so fun to me, and this second song makes me sad just by listening to it, without relating to it at all. Jenny Lewis with Elvis Costello - Carpetbaggers, Rilo Kiley - Does He Love You?

Morgan Freeman melts my heart. :love:


Edit: Yes I know he's not an artist, but smurf off. I'm sticking by it.

Off the top of my head, my favorite voices are Lea Salonga's, Karen Carpenter's, and Julie Andrews'.

Bic Runga, Cerys Matthews, Bjork, Karen O, Tracyanne Campbell, Amanda Palmer, China Forbes, Chan Marshall, PJ Harvey, Karen Carpenter, Gruff Rhys, Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn, Paul Banks, Freddie Mercury, Matt Bellamy, Ben Harper and Fran Healy.

They're all rather beautiful in their own way. "Unusual" voices in bold.

Bjork, Lana del Rey, Natalie Merchant, Regina Spektor, Tori Amos

Ha, Morgan Freeman was the first thing I thought of, too.

Most of my favourite voices are actors and actresses. Anthony Hopkins is awesome. Carla Bruni has a lovely singing voice, it must be said. Freddie Mercury is boss. The lead singer from Stereophonics is pretty great, too, in a Rod Stewart/Bryan Adams kind of way. Rodney Dangerfield. Patrick Warburton, though, oh man that guy is the bestest ever.

My favourite real life voices are probably that of forum members fire_of_avalon, smittenkitten, Wishing Star, Chaos, Miriamel, Locky, Lonely Paper Star, Parker, Dignified Pauper, The Summoner of Leviathan, Shorty and, or course, Loony BoB (well, I'm told I love the sound of my own voice, so it must be true).

If I"m going with singers, you know like the thread says too, I would have to say Roy Khan, the guy who was the lead singer for Kamelot up until the last Album (Whcih the new guy is great, mind you, but no Khan.)

Roy just has so much energy to his voice, yet it always comes across as very controlled. It perfectly matches the grand and epic scale of music that is Power Metal.

And yeah, Freddie was awesome.

For actors, it has to be Tony Jay. The man was a legend.

Also Keith however you spell his last name. Played Holtz in Angel, the cop Joker taunted in Dark Knight, and Yuriev from Xenosaga.

If we are throwing in Anime Voice actors....

Crispin Freeman is amazing at playing the over the top psycho types. Albedo from Xenosaga, The Android from Big O, Rosiel from Angel Sactuary (Even if the show was aweful), and Alucard From Hellsing Ultimate. He can also nail the James Bond esq suave like With Gaingnum, also Xenosaga. :p

Steven Blum is another favorite, having voiced Spike Speagal of Bebop. Seriously, voice of one of the greatest characters ever. Also Ogren of Dragon Age and Rodger from Big O.

And Liam O'Brien - Best VA presint in Killer is Dead doing a great job at playing the nutty and psychotic main villain, and a couple more of my favorite characters with Kenzo Tenma from Monster, and Radar Man from Paranoia Agent.

Also, any of the other main characters of Bebop have pretty much been universally awesome. :p

Hahaha I said something about Morgan Freeman in chat the other day.. he should just narrate every commercial ever. I'd totes buy whatever he's selling.

Denzel has a smexy voice too. And that Terrence Howard. And Robert DeNiro.

Singers? Bjork, Kyo, Utada Hikaru, Jenny Rivera was amazing and Selena (Quintanilla. Not Gomez) just omg ... Watching videos of her concerts never ceases to blow me away.

Just singing voice? What about actors? They count as artists. I like Clancy Brown's deep voice. It can be very intimidating and scary (The Kurgan) or very funny (Mr. Krabs). John Malkovich is another actor that has a very interesting voice, or at least he does to me. As for musicians, I've always like Axle Rose's screeching pitches, and that sound I can't even describe from Johhny Cash's unique voice. There are probably a lot more I like, but those were the first ones the came to mind.

Tegan & Sara.

It seems to me that this is a thread about singing. Let's do a new one for acting and narrators.

I am double posting almost twelve hours later.

I forgot to mention CocoRosie! Bianca and Sierra definitely have some of the most unusual and strange female voices I've ever heard in my life. One of the sisters reminds me of Joanna Newsom, one's voice is just lovely - CocoRosie - Lemonade, CocoRosie - Armageddon. This song is coupled with them and Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons, who has an equally strange-sounding voice and I think it works so well. CocoRosie ft. Antony Hegarty - Beautiful Boyz

Also, I accidentally left out Coheed and Cambria. No one can deny this dude has a crazy unusual voice. Coheed and Cambra - A Favor House Atlantic

Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus