The prog rock international has no loss of virtuosity, with its guitar heroes, keyboard wizards, and bass and drum monsters however this record salutes the proggers whose software used to be their vocal cords. Many of those singers had been masterful storytellers, nice balladeers, and a couple of had been extremely theatrical. Right here we salute the best prog rock singers who introduced their visions and fired our imaginations simply by opening their mouths.

30: Sonja Kristina (Curved Air)

Curved Air’s singer used to be a former musical actress, and the band included her intercourse enchantment into their step forward unmarried “Again Boulevard Luv.” However Sonja Kristina proved simply as achieved as her conservatory-trained bandmates. She used to be a groovy jazz-influenced singer on file, however the reside clips display she is usually a Joplinesque wailer onstage.

29: Fish (Marillion, solo)

You should name Marillion’s first frontman some of the remaining of the old-school, extremely theatrical prog rock singers. Obviously encouraged through Hammill and Peter Gabriel, Fish discovered his personal voice at the two idea albums, Out of place Youth and Clutching at Straws, that closed out his Marillion tenure. An inventive string of solo paintings, from topical to extremely non-public, used to be nonetheless to return.

28: Derek Shulman (Delicate Massive)

If he’d sung for a extra typical band, Derek Shulman may had been referred to as some of the nice arena-rock voices. He indisputably had a mighty set of pipes and basic tracks like “Loose Hand” and “Enjoying the Recreation” display how nicely he may just shout to the rafters. So possibly it’s no accident that Shulman found out Jon Bon Jovi after shifting onto his A&R gig.

27: Steve Walsh (Kansas)

Talking of arena-ready voices, Kansas’ frontman had some of the very best; and not anything jumped out of AOR radio just like the a cappella intro to “Raise On Wayward Son.” However Steve Walsh used to be similarly at house with deeper, proggier items like “Icarus Borne on Wings of Metal” and “Hopelessly Human,” which explored the band’s favourite theme of non secular questing.

26: Steve Hogarth (Marillion)

After parting with Fish, Marillion beat the chances through discovering an similarly grabbing prog rock singer with a completely other character. At his very best, Steve Hogarth comes off as a delicate man with a sinister streak. Take a look at the menacing tone he provides on “The Uninvited Visitor,” or the best way he portrays more than one just right and evil characters on their top idea albums, Courageous and F.E.A.R.

25: Dave Cousins (Strawbs)

One of the vital extra dramatic prog rock singers, Dave Cousins started as a people balladeer and keeps an affinity for a well-told tale. His romantic streak is a longstanding trademark, noticed within the gentle Strawbs ballads “Grace Darling” and “Out within the Chilly.” However what is also his very best second, the name observe of “Hero & Heroine,” is intense from begin to end.

24: Robert Wyatt (Cushy System, solo)

The poignant high quality in Robert Wyatt’s voice supplied Cushy System with its best pop moments; then he did the most efficient ever prog model of a Monkees track (“I’m A Believer”). However Wyatt later discovered his true calling as a jazz-inspired singer who took on difficult political subject material. Elvis Costello used to be even duly inspired through his model of “Shipbuilding.”

23: Sally Oldfield

It’s a disgrace that Sally Oldfield by no means matched the celebrity of her more youthful brother Mike, who first recorded as a part of a duo along with her. Sally’s solo debut, Water Bearer, is a gorgeous file that charts its personal territory between prog, pop, and New Age. She additionally merits a place for her hovering vocal on Steve Hackett’s Voyage of the Acolyte.

22: Richard Sinclair (Caravan, Camel)

All the way through his time with Caravan, Richard Sinclair alternated lead vocals with Pye Hastings, giving them an interesting Lennon/McCartney kind combine. However Sinclair’s gentlemanly British contact used to be overlooked after his departure. His very best second – the ballad towards the top of the side-long “9 Toes Underground” – is easily price attempting to find.

21: Roger Chapman: (Circle of relatives)

Talking of distinctive voices, many peoples’ first response to listening to Circle of relatives used to be to be inspired through the individuality of that frontman. Roger Chapman wore his unconventional tones proudly, and he additionally had actual soul. Circle of relatives’s gentler moments, just like the basic ballad “My Buddy the Solar,” are a few of prog rock’s maximum emotive.

20: Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, solo)

Lately some of the nice technical wizards in prog, Steven Wilson additionally has an expressive singer-songwriter voice that in point of fact shines when he strips issues all the way down to fundamentals (see Porcupine Tree’s superb acoustic EP, We Misplaced the Skyline). However he’s additionally driven himself to inform darkish and complex tales; scaling particularly dramatic peaks at the band’s epic “Anesthetize.”

19: Geddy Lee (Rush)

All the way through his higher-pitched days, Geddy Lee’s voice used to be a drawback for prog lovers entering Rush, however like the whole lot in Rush, Lee’s vocals simply saved getting higher through the years. Glance no additional than his nuanced efficiency on “The Cross” (from the underrated Presto), on which Lee no longer best makes a resonant level (it’s an anti-suicide track) however sings harmonies with himself.

18: Gary Brooker (Procol Harum)

A lot as someone in this record, Procol Harum’s singer is steeped in basic R&B; it is advisable see “Whiter Coloration of Light” as a a hit try to make a wordier Otis Redding file. However Gary Brooker’s herbal stateliness lets in him to tackle extra quintessential English characters, just like the sailor who tells his recollections in “A Salty Canine.”

17: Ike Willis (Frank Zappa)

It will be tricky to pick out a favourite singer from the Frank Zappa workforce however Ike Willis – who used to be there from the past due 70s in the course of the remaining band excursion – would rank top at the record. In every other lifestyles, Willis can have been a soul/R&B frontman; Zappa known that high quality in his voice and frequently used it to nice comedian impact. Few different singers can have drawn precise pathos from “Why Does It Harm After I Pee?”

16: Thijs van Leer (Center of attention)

Even though Center of attention used to be (and is) most commonly an instrumental band, chief Thijs van Leer’s operatic vary – in addition to his natural eccentricity – gave them their maximum iconic second, with the yodeling on “Hocus Pocus”. Keyboardist/flautist van Leer had different standout vocal moments together with the Latin chant in “Spherical Is going the Gossip” and his multitracked church choir that brings “Hamburger Concerto” to its top.

15: Roy Harper

Like most of the largest prog rock singers, Roy Harper got here out of the people singer-songwriter international, however through his basic Stormcock album, he used to be writing longer, extra concerned songs that referred to as for complicated vocal acrobatics. This drew admiration from Led Zeppelin and Red Floyd, with the latter recruiting Harper to lend his voice to the sleazy file exec in “Have a Cigar.”

14: Adrian Belew (King Red, solo)

For all their avant-garde dispositions, King Red at all times had frontmen who knew and cherished pop tune. Adrian Belew used to be particularly just right at bringing heat to the combination. However he may just additionally get avant with the most efficient. On “Indiscipline,” he tailored a letter (from his artist spouse about her new portray) into prog’s largest spoken-word vocal.

13: Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull, solo)

The songs Ian Anderson wrote for Jethro Tull referred to as for quite a lot of vocal approaches: from punkish snarl to enviornment bluster, non-public balladeer to English troubadour, and all of that may be discovered on Aspect Certainly one of Aqualung on my own. Anderson’s talent to ship a considerate lyric used to be no less than as vital to Tull as his trademark flute.

12: Maddy Prior (Steeleye Span, solo)

If this used to be a folk-rock record, Maddy Prior can be close to the highest. However Steeleye Span indisputably has its proggier moments (take a look at “King Henry” or “Lengthy Lankin”), and Prior additionally has prog credentials, having guested with Jethro Tull a couple of instances (and used all of Tull’s then-current line-up on her solo debut, Lady within the Wings). Maximum of all, she supplies what must be the most efficient vocal on any Mike Oldfield album, specifically the beautiful “Hiawatha” that fills Aspect Two of Incantations, and its reprise at Aspect 4’s climax.

11: Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren does many stuff nicely, prog being best one in all them. However he’s in this record of the best prog rock singers as the primary artist to do prog a cappella and spotting the potential of layered vocals. The Initiation observe “Born to Synthesize” broke that flooring, and 1984’s A Cappella album proved exceptional from each technical and musical standpoints.

10: Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues)

4 of the 5 classic-era Moodies had been succesful lead singers with no less than one basic observe to their credit score. However Justin Hayward briefly established himself as in all probability the best love-song specialist in all of prog rock; with the romantic outpouring of “Nights in White Satin.” His romantic aspect used to be in large part answerable for The Moody Blues’ MTV-era comeback as nicely.

9: Kate Bush

On her earliest information, Kate Bush sounded just like the imaginative youngster that she used to be. However the golden period of The Dreaming and Hounds of Love used to be about discovering new probabilities for her voice. It used to be additionally the place her theatrical streak got here into play, as she inhabited vibrant characters from sirens to banshees.

8: Peter Gabriel (Genesis, solo)

Peter Gabriel grew up on American soul information and discovered to position some grit into his supply. Now not many public-school English guys may just convincingly transform a New York graffiti artist on a idea album. His voice changed into extra versatile in his solo years, to the purpose the place he can have hits with a horny dance quantity (“Sledgehammer”) and a love ballad (“In Your Eyes”).

7: Phil Collins: (Genesis, solo)

When Genesis hemmed and hawed about selling their drummer to guide singer, little did they know that they had a voice that may nearly outline the 80s. Granted, it took a divorce and a solo deal to make Phil Collins a vocal celebrity; however he used to be turning in memorable Genesis performances – just like the ecstatic peaks in “Afterglow” – from the get-go.

6: David Gilmour (Red Floyd, solo)

At his very best, David Gilmour’s making a song used to be simply as fantastically expressive as his guitar enjoying. “Want You Had been Right here,” “Younger Lust” and “Welcome to the System” rank as one of the most maximum grabbing vocals in all of prog, and his solo highlights – just like the Pete Townshend co-written “All Fanatics Are Deranged” – aren’t to be lost sight of both.

5: Annie Haslam (Renaissance)

Annie Haslam’s crystalline voice and five-octave vary have given prog rock a few of his maximum enthralling moments, and a few of its toughest to replicate, just like the vocal acrobatics in “Prologue.” She may also be haunting and spectral, as at the proto-goth “Shuttle to the Honest.”

4: John Wetton (King Red, UK, Asia)

John Wetton had one of the unique voices in British rock, to start with becoming a member of Circle of relatives to sing harmonies with Roger Chapman. He threw himself handily into the fray of King Red, nevertheless it used to be at all times his future to mix prog with full-throttle enviornment rock. His gutsy vocal on UK’s “Within the Useless of Night time” used to be basic, and the mega-success of Asia wasn’t a ways at the back of.

3: Jon Anderson (Sure)

As an angelic top tenor, Jon Anderson challenged what a male rock singer used to be meant to sound like. However in a band the place each and every participant used to be distinctive, Anderson supplied Sure with moments of utmost attractiveness, the finale of “The Gates of Delirium,” being a first-rate instance. Since he fell out with Sure, they’ve had the unenviable process of discovering singers who sound similar to him.

2: Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Red)

If the phrases “English choirboy vocals” are ceaselessly connected with prog rock, Greg Lake is in large part the rationale. His voice gave King Red a large number of its drama – no longer simply any one may just file one thing as robust as “twenty first Century Schizoid Guy” when slightly out in their teenagers – and later gave Emerson, Lake & Palmer its accessibility. Ballads like “Nonetheless…You Flip Me On” additionally evinced intercourse enchantment, no longer a not unusual high quality in prog rock singers.

1: Peter Hammill (Van der Graaf Generator, solo)

The usual rap about Peter Hammill – that his dexterity along with his voice used to be what Hendrix did along with his guitar – is totally deserved. Hammill can do fireworks, he can display you the guts of darkness; then he can soothe your ears with a ballad. Above all, Hammill’s 40-year profession has at all times evinced the fun of journey that prog rock is all about.

In search of extra? Uncover 25 Greatest Prog Rock Albums Of All Time.

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