I was listening to Josh Groban and it made me start thinking about really very good singers of popular music (i.e. rock, pop, soul, country) and I realized while there are a lot of good singers in the popular genres of music there aren’t that many really great or A grade singers (and they’re not found on popular American television programs like ‘American Idol’- in fact a classically trained singer might not survive the venting process since the three ‘judges’ are looking for the next American pop music singer).
So let me think of who were some of the great singers in popular music. Well, back many years when there were more variety of music played on the main music radio stations (things like Broadway tunes, movie scores and what would now be considered Las Vegas show music use to be on the same radio play list as rock n’ roll hits) I could look at the crooners (now what many called the Las Vegas sound) and I can see there were a lot of good singers. The two that stick out in my mind right now are Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra.
Other popular singers with the ‘chops’ in my opinion are Barbra Streisand (Barbra was the tops pre Whitney Houston), Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and LeAnn Rhimes (of course I’m not mentioning many other singers who are also great).
To bad Whitney has ruined her singing career. She had one of the greatest voices (clear and powerful) ever for a pop music singer. Her voice could have been honed into that of a great opera singer if she so desired. It had great range and crystal clarity.
Josh Groban is one of the A grade singers now trying to break onto the American popular music scene with limited success. He can sing in at least three languages (he has had a little more success in pop music overseas) but I think he may sound too classical or Broadway for the American masses unfortunately.
He is popular among Americans into opera, theater, and the classics. May I suggest you listen to “alla luce del sole”, “gira con me”, “the prayer”(with Charlotte Church) and “to where you are” (I do not really like this song but I think it is his most popular in the US). I think he did a few Christmas songs that are excellent also. You’ll get a good feel for his sound and some of his abilities (but not the full measure) as a singer if you listen to the songs mentioned here.