Singers with incredibly pleasant voices

[phantom_power]

Mark Eitzel
Gil Scott Heron
Bill Withers

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

Yeah, Karen Carpenter had a voice like an incredibly rich chocolate sponge cake.

Also Rumer, although the Karen Carpenter comparison has been overdone.

Todd Rundgren had a great rock voice, but also a very soothing ballad voice back in the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhWnYKRNn34 (Wailing Wall).

[Sebastian Cobb]

Sandy Kerr

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Anne Briggs
Ray Charles
Maria Bethania
Sarah Vaughan
Patrice Rushen
Junior Murvin
fuccckn Macca

[pigamus]

Phil Collins. It seems to be fashionable to like him now but he was always a great and underrated singer.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Mýa

[Chicory]

Not a trendy choice but I think George Michael had an amazing set of pipes on him.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

If we're on the more populist tip, I always found Lily Allen to have a lovely voice, when she wasn't doing that mockney accent thing. Trufax: she did the backing vocals on Vindaloo.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Tracyanne Campbell

Such a beautiful voice, one of my faves.

Also, Micky Dolenz. I suppose we're just listing singers we like now, but the purity of Dolenz's voice is - as per the thread title - incredibly pleasant and delightful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FqCt5gYsVI

[The Mollusk]

Sandy Denny. My favourite singer.

Often imitated, never bettered. One of the most stunning voices of all time.

[Jockice]

Not a trendy choice but I think George Michael had an amazing set of pipes on him.

Even less trendy but I really like Marti Pellow's voice.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Beth Orton has a great voice but I only really seem to like the guest vocals she's done for the Chemical Brothers.

[lazyhour]

*waits for Dusty Substance to arrive and say Weyes Blood*

He'd be right, though, one of the best voices out there at the moment.

I'd throw in modern-day baritone Bill Callahan.

[Cuellar]

Lowell George

[McChesney Duntz]

Lowell George

Especially here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFWiJAYmADQ

[Cuellar]

Bob Dylan

[The Mollusk]

How's no one said Scott Walker yet

[Dusty Substance]

*waits for Dusty Substance to arrive and say Weyes Blood*

He'd be right, though, one of the best voices out there at the moment.

I'd throw in modern-day baritone Bill Callahan.

Haha! Fuck's sake, am I really that predictable?! But, yeah, hers was first name that came to mind as soon as I saw the thread.

How's no one said Scott Walker yet

My second choice :(


I'll say Roy Oribison then. I used to have a Roy compilation CD which included a David Lynch quote in the liner notes. Can't remember the exact quote but it was something along the lines of "They say Roy Orbision's voice is like something you'd hear in a dream. I think it's more like something you'd hear in a dream within a dream".

[JaDanketies]

She's good is  Weyes Blood. Introduced to her via the YouTube algorithm, as I was with Black Pumas who has a great voice in this song.

[rue the polywhirl]

Carl Wilson. Also incredibly pleasant songwriter - everything he's ever written for the Beach Boys has been bang-on pleasant, no more no less.

[timebug]

Marion Montgomery, who used to be on BBC things a lot as a guest. Smooth and lovely. Technically a 'jazz' singer, but as a non jazzer, I always found her voice magically soothing. Also Perry Como, who I grew up hating for being a bland M.O.R/cabaret type singer, but as I grew older, I realised how effortless he made it sound.

[Pink Gregory]

Would it be odd to say Robert Wyatt?  Certainly unconventional but if it's for you it's like little else.

[Neomod]

Sibylle Baier
William Hart
Emmanuelle Proulx
Cristina Donà
Sandy Denny
Inara George
Andrea Simpson and Lois Wilkinson (The Caravelles)
Terry Callier
Françoise Hardy
Richard Hawley
Joan as Police Woman

[Neomod]

Oh and I guess a pleasant voice is a pre-requisite for a place in the Swingle Singers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxQkVtvwcLk

[Jockice]

Lowell George

And his brother, Boy.

[wosl]

Lots of good ones listed already (if you were doing this as a Desert Island sort of thing, then the Collected Karen Carpenter ought to be pre-bundled, like the Bible and the works of Shakespeare).  David Crosby's great of course; balancing strength and sweetness can be tricky, but he manages to a lot of the time.  Brendan Perry's pipes impart a rich warmth, despite the sometimes attendant pomposity, while Gene Parsons achieves similar by operating as far from pomposity as you can get—just a lovely reassuring voice (I wish he'd been given a bash at more Byrd tunes). Susanne Abbuehl does some nice jazz vox, thoughtful and lambent.  I'd also chuck in Serge Gainsbourg.

[Mr Banlon]

Joyce Moreno
Minnie Riperton
Chico Buarque
Mariza

[phantom_power]

Laurie Anderson's speaking voice on O Superman is very pleasant and mellifluous

[Sebastian Cobb]

Laurie Anderson's speaking voice on O Superman is very pleasant and mellifluous

The vocoder link jogged my memory and made me realise we'd all neglected to include Imogen Heap, who sounds lovely vocoder or not.

[NoSleep]

The singer in Pelican nails it.