Could you produce a top 10 list of your favourite singers? It’d be a difficult task for most, and KISS legend Paul Stanley is no different.
Unable to decide on a concise 10, he revealed on Twitter yesterday who he believes are the 11 best lead singers of all time. Understandably Stanley’s list has quite a rock and metal leaning, especially from the 60s and 70s era. Perhaps the only outsider is David Ruffin, one of the iconic lead singers in soul vocal group The Temptations, in fourth place.
Heart songwriter Ann Wilson begins the list at 11th, more praise for someone who Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson recently named as his favourite female singer.
She’s followed by some obvious picks – AC/DC‘s third lead singer Brian Johnson (10), powerhouse rock vocalist Janis Joplin (7), and British crooner Rod Stewart (5) – and some less obvious ones such as Steve Marriott, lead singer of the 60s British rock group Small Faces, who comes in all the way up in 2nd place.
The top spot is a worthy winner though. Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant is Stanley’s pick for greatest lead singer of all time, although his third choice Freddie Mercury probably would have been many people’s number one.
You can check out Stanley’s full list below. Who would be in your top 10 – sorry, top 11 – lead singers of all time? Paul Stanley himself would probably be included in a fair few people’s lists thanks to his KISS performances.
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Paul Stanley’s Top 11 Lead Singers of All Time
01. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)
02. Steve Marriott (Small Faces, Humble Pie)
03. Freddie Mercury (Queen)
04. David Ruffin (The Temptations)
05. Rod Stewart
06. Paul Rodgers (Bad Company, Free)
07. Janis Joplin
08. Steve Perry (Journey)
09. Brad Delp (Boston)
10. Brian Johnson (AC/DC)
10. Lou Gramm (Foreigner)
11. Ann Wilson (Heart)
Check out Robert Plant’s stunning vocals in Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’:
