{"id":10096534,"date":"2026-08-14T10:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/?p=10096534"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:25:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:25:45","slug":"10-great-extraordinary-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/inspire\/10-great-extraordinary-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Great, Extraordinary Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What makes a voice extraordinary? Is it the range? The volume? Perfect vocal technique? Or is it the distinctive timbre and style of singing? Probably a mix of all these things. In any case, it\u2019s incredible how some voices are instantly recognisable after just two notes. For me, it has always been my goal to be unmistakable as a singer, and sometimes not being able to do certain things has actually helped me find my very own path.

However, an extraordinary voice thrives not only on vocal ability, but always on the singer\u2019s personality and their life experiences as well. When these meet exceptional vocal qualities and the right music and songs, we have the complete package from which the very best voices are made.

I\u2019ve set out on a search and would like to introduce you to 10 extraordinary voices that venture a bit off the beaten path, but absolutely deserve the same attention as the usual suspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raye<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with Raye, aka Rachel Keen, a British singer who blends R&B, jazz and pop into her singing and her songs. Vocally, Raye is a consummate singer who has incredible control over her voice. There seems to be nothing she cannot sing. And yet she doesn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes her voice truly extraordinary is the fact that she doesn\u2019t polish her sound to perfection; she allows herself little imperfections and plays with them. Added to this is the fact that Raye sings in a very narrative and emotionally charged way. Rhythmically and in terms of tempo, her vocal storytelling is influenced by hip-hop; in terms of interpretation, she shapes her songs like an actress who truly lives and breathes the story she\u2019s telling. Every single song becomes a world that Raye unfolds before you, one you can step into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henning May (AnnenMayKantereit)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If Rio Reiser had been able to choose who would one day carry on his legacy, his choice would certainly have fallen on Henning May from the Cologne-based band AnnenMayKantereit. Henning May\u2019s voice is rough, deep, melancholic and edgy. His singing: spat out, yet well articulated, with plenty of power and drive, which lends his performance a great sense of urgency. He somehow sounds very mature for a young bloke standing on stage in jeans and a T-shirt, but he\u2019s an extremely likeable person. All this is combined with German-language songs tackling intelligent themes and a band that gives him plenty of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Beth Gibbons<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beth Gibbons sings \u201cGive me a reason to be a woman\u201d and, even 32 years after the release of her band Portishead\u2019s song \u2018Glory Box\u2019<\/em>, I\u2019m still blown away as if her voice were something completely new and unprecedented. The trip-hop production of the seminal album Dummy<\/em> \u2013 to which Beth Gibbons breathes life with her softly delivered yet intensely powerful voice \u2013 still sounds as modern and fresh as if it were the latest, hottest thing.

Gibbons doesn\u2019t sing with a wide vocal range, wildly varying vocal textures, or insane dynamics. Her voice is like a single point in time, extremely dense and haunting. She explores every nuance of the softer side of singing and showers us with emotion within her microcosm. In a way, Beth Gibbons sings like Janis Joplin, whose songs she had performed in clubs for years before joining Portishead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tom Jones<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s stay in the UK and move on to Sir Thomas Woodward, aka \u2018Tiger\u2019 Tom Jones. With his vibrant, powerful, slightly lower soul voice, he is one of the few artists to have been honoured with the opportunity to provide the theme song for a James Bond film (Thunderball<\/em>). Tom Jones sings like Elvis in his later Las Vegas phase \u2013 in his unmistakable Tom Jones style of interpretation.

What makes his voice extraordinary is that he combines power, energy and great dynamics with a vocal technique honed to perfection through decades of live performance. Tom Jones could sing a phone book and we\u2019d fall in love with him on the spot. He proves this by taking even a song like \u2018Sexbomb\u2019<\/em> \u2013 whose lyrics are certainly nothing to write home about and include lines such as \u2018Make me explode although you know the route to go to sex me slow\u2019 \u2013 and elevating every single word, stripping away all banality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erykah Badu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the world of jazz, singers like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald are always the first to be mentioned when it comes to extraordinary voices. Yet here, too, it\u2019s worth venturing off the beaten track to discover artists such as Erykah Badu. In terms of vocal timbre, vibrato and mid-range nasality, Badu\u2019s voice is reminiscent of Billie Holiday\u2019s.

Badu\u2019s speciality lies in her ability to modulate her voice through subtle shifts in mood, sometimes even within a single sentence. She, too, uses storytelling to bring her lyrics to life and, like Raye, relies on a deliberate imperfection to add depth and vitality to her delivery. My personal highlight is the song \u2018Green Eyes\u2019<\/em>, where Badu sings: \u201cMy eyes are green, \u2018cause I eat a lot of vegetables\u201d. Erykah Badu describes herself as a mother, producer, artist, activist, midwife and vegan. All right then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Berq<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Hamburg-based singer Felix Dautzenberg, aka Berq, is the youngest of the singers I\u2019m introducing to you here. At just 22 years old, Berq has already won several awards and is adored by fans. For me, he stands out from the crowd of young pop singers because his voice is one of the most distinctive of his generation. It is deep, nasal and, in its own unique way, both powerful and fragile at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is often described as Berq\u2019s very own timbre. What\u2019s more, when he isn\u2019t singing, Berq often comes across as insecure and fragile, but as soon as he opens his mouth, this completely different voice emerges, creating a striking contrast with his persona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Karen O<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the New York band Yeah Yeah Yeahs<\/em> burst onto the music scene in 2003 with their debut album Fever To Tell<\/em>, my singer\u2019s ear was immediately drawn to their frontwoman, Karen Lee Orzolek, aka Karen O. Karen O is a force of nature turned punk. CBGB attitude 2.0. Her performance is uncompromising and intense; her voice bursts with understatement, nonchalance, screams, noises and squeals.

She\u2019s straightforward, uses no embellishments or vibrato, but has a mission. It\u2019s more shouting than singing. Eccentric. Inimitable. New York underground, charisma, drama, freedom, rebellion \u2013 all in one voice and one person. Karen O\u2019s way of singing reminds me of the many vocal sounds of Diamanda Galas, while the radical nature of her delivery reminds me of Beth Ditto. For her, it\u2019s not about beauty, but about testing boundaries and, above all, about intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mike Patton<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mike Patton rose to fame as the singer of the alternative metal band Faith No More<\/em>. His powerful rock voice spans six octaves, but that alone isn\u2019t enough to do justice to this extraordinary vocal talent. He couldn\u2019t accommodate all his vocal interests in just one band. His playground includes other bands such as Mr. Bungle<\/em>, where Patton enjoys exploring every vocal sound he can possibly create, such as singing through various microphones, growling, rapping, and producing metal screamo tones.

His voice seems to know no limits. With Fantomas<\/em> \u2013 another band whose song structures are rooted more in free and avant-garde jazz than in rock \u2013 Patton even performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2005. But Patton also proves he can croon with his cover of the Commodores classic \u2018Easy\u2019<\/em>, a huge hit by Faith No More.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Umm Kulthum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Musikexpress.de<\/a> has ranked Umm Kulthum at number 58 on its list of the best singers and aptly notes:

\u201cIn the Arab world, the Egyptian singer is bigger than the Beatles in the West. After a career spanning sixty years, her death drew more than four million mourners onto the streets of Cairo. As a tough businesswoman, she gathered the finest composers and poets around her, whose words she rendered with such depth of meaning that she transported her audience into transcendent states.\u201d

Umm Kulthum is the Arab Edith Piaf. Having grown up in poverty, she broke with many conventions as an adult. She shared a common background with Aretha Franklin in that both came from preachers\u2019 families and were brought up on religious music before turning to secular music.

Umm Kulthum\u2019s concerts often lasted four hours, with individual songs lasting up to an hour. During these performances, she would improvise her way into a state of ecstasy, sweeping her audience along with her. The Elbphilharmonie (https:\/\/www.elbphilharmonie.de\/en\/mediatheque\/umm-kulthum-die-inspirationsquelle-vom-nil\/1161<\/a>) in Hamburg describes the magic of her voice as follows:

\u201cSo what is it that makes this contralto voice so fascinating? Time and again, one reads that it is her legendary sound pressure, significantly higher than that of opera singers, which is why she has to keep metres away from the microphone in the studio. But that is merely a superficial physical aspect. Beyond the sheer power of her voice, Umm Kulthum is able to embellish every word with trills, sighs and vibratos in the micro-interval range \u2013 the word \u2018arabesque\u2019 takes on its deepest meaning here. She often repeats a phrase, or even a single word or its initial sound, dozens of times to heighten the impact of the words, each time with a subtle variation. The Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf says: \u2018Technically, she is unbeatable. But at the same time \u2013 and this is what makes her magic \u2013 she possesses a constant fragility. There\u2019s something like a hesitation, a brittleness in her intonation and phrasing that seems to foreshadow a break. But in fact, she never breaks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kae Tempest<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For me, Kae Tempest has one of the most fascinating voices of our time, because we were able to witness first-hand how a voice changes when its owner transitions from one gender to another. At the start of his career, Kae was still known as Kate Tempest. Now with a lower range, his voice has a slightly edgy quality but also possesses a great deal of warmth and empathy.

Having grown up with rap, Kae is a highly talented poet and lyricist. A beautiful example is the song \u2018Know Yourself\u2019<\/em> (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L5Vweo6SYzs<\/a>), in which the older Kae speaks to the younger Kate and both voices speak-sing in a duet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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10 extraordinary voices in music history: Which others come to mind?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This was my very own selection of extraordinary voices. Why not leave a comment telling me which voice(s) you find most inspiring? I can\u2019t wait to hear from you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What makes a singing voice truly extraordinary? Discover 10 unique singers whose vocal style, character and unmistakable sound set them apart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10024,"featured_media":10096535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tblog_post_audio_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10676],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10096534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspire"],"category_colors":{"color_key":"inspire","css_classes":{"text":"cat-inspire","text_light":"cat-inspire-light","bg":"cat-bg-inspire","bg_light":"cat-bg-inspire-light","border":"cat-border-inspire","text_on_bg":"cat-text-on-inspire"}},"reading_time":{"minutes":9,"formatted":"9 min"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10024"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10096534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10096546,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096534\/revisions\/10096546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10096535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10096534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10096534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomannmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10096534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}