Greatest Female Singers In Music History

Women have always played an important role in music history, and from soulful ladies who could belt it better than anyone, the soothing, catchy tunes of the singer-songwriters, and the hard edged sounds of the rock and roll divas, women have done it all. They have devoted followers of all genders all around the world, and music may be one of the few fields where women get as much respect as men do.

Every genre has its towering female artists, and does every era, and women remain as vital as men to the direction that music is going in today. To come up with a list of the greatest female singers of all time is a near impossible effort, and we had to make some tough decisions on who to include, leaving out dozens of brilliant voices whose music has become a part of all of our lives. With the caveat that such a list is inevitably inconclusive, we hereby present the finest female singers to ever grace our stereos.

Nina Simone

The great Nina Simone, born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina in 1933, is one of the great jazz and blues musicians of all time. Her transfixing voice can elevate any song to the next level, and her evocative piano playing cuts just as deep. Her music is genuinely powerful, with a raw emotion to it that feels vivid and alive.

The immediacy of her music makes it some of the best of the Civil Rights era as her songs explore racism and the hardships that ordinary African American people had dealt with at that time. There is a haunting quality to much of this work, though her work is also full of beauty and joy, and there is something for everyone in her music which has stood the test of time.

Madonna

As an icon, Madonna, born Madonna Ciccone in Michigan, is in a class of her own. She took pop stardom to a new level for women, and she also was a representation and harbinger of female emancipation, pushing boundaries and making it more acceptable for women to be individuals with agency and freedom.

On top of her cultural impact and her groundbreaking music videos, there was her music, consistently catchy with lyrics that were deeper than they appear on a first listen. She switched up her sound with practically every album, and she reinvented the live show as she gave some of the finest and most elaborate stage performances in the business. Behind all of the theatrics, though, is her beautiful and finely nuanced voice, which despite her massive fame is too often overlooked.

Aretha Franklin

If we had to pick the greatest singer of all time, we’d have to go with Aretha Franklin. Her nickname the “Queen of Soul” somehow manages to be an understatement, and whenever she got her vocal chords working to move you, it was pure magic. Her voice was well trained in the Detroit church where her father was minister, and the purity and strength of her voice transformed every song she ever sang.

Barack Obama said that “when she sits down at a piano and sings “A Natural Woman,” she can move me to tears,” and he is not alone in that sentiment. Songs such as “Respect” and “Think” are standards, and while countless artists have attempted to sing the songs she made famous, none have even come close to the perfection that she embodies with every note.

Carole King

Carole King’s voice does not overwhelm you, but it whispers in your ear, has you follow it as it blows with the wind, only to surprise you as it opens up with its beauty and vulnerability. King feels like she is talking to you as she sings, and her music and lyrics are as much the star as her voice is. King is one of the most successful female songwriters in history, writing hit after hit as a staff writer in the Brill Building before going solo and leading the singer-songwriter movement.

Born in New York City with the name “Carol Joan Klein” in 1942, King had songwriting credits as a teenager, and her professionalism and craftsmanship that made her a successful hit-making machine never got in the way of her personality and artistry. She has 118 songs that she wrote which made the Billboard Hot 100, and for 20 years she held the record with her classic album “Tapestry” for the most weeks spent at number one for a female artist.