Spin off: who are the least talented famous singers?

[WishinAndHopin]

Mick Jagger: just shouts tunelessly. He can’t sing at all.

Generally a lot of men in bands, like the Gallagher brothers, Alex Turner, and the singers in the Kinks.

Chris Martin - he’s just an insipid whiner. There was an advert with a woman with a good voice singing while driving a big lorry. I thought “that’s a nice song” and realised that it was actually Yellow by Coldplay. I never even realised it was a decent song because he just sounds so horrendous.

Generally women are held to a much higher vocal standard, and are only ever considered respectable artists if they are also good singers. Men who can’t sing get away with it. But ti balance it here are two women:

Geri Halliwell: Posh gets shit on for her bad singing but at least she had a pleasant enough tone. Geri is far worse - flat as a pancake.

Taylor Swift: such a weak voice. Sounds like mediocre karaoke.

Lily Allen

I also came to say Taylor Swift

Bob Dylan just mumbles.

Also being an enigma when you're a teenager / young man is all well and good, but playing this hidden man as an adult just makes you looks shady.

I agree with PP, Taylor doesn't belong on this list though I knew somebody would add her.. she isn't the most technically amazing singer, but she is unbelievably talented, plays the piano and guitar, she's creative and works tirelessly on songwriting, and is a brilliant story teller. Which more than makes up for other artists who might be brilliant singers but their singing someone else's songs and barely go near an instrument. I think she demonstrates that you don't have to be 'the best' at something in order to succeed.

And whilst I appreciate that Taylor Swift can sing, one of her songs sounds interchangeable to the other to me. Apologies to any lurking Swifties.

Rae…Rea…Rai…Ray…not sure how she spells it
Shes just a karaoke & lookalike Winehouse (never liked Ms Winehouse…always looked as though she needed a good scrub…but her songs were amazingly good)

Nah. Not for me.
I trained for 15 years as an opera singer, singing is all about the technicality for me.
Nothing in the pop charts impresses me - anybody can do it with the technology they use nowadays.

I would argue that Anne Marie isn’t great, and Katy Perry is notoriously awful live.

Britney

But only the commercial Britney. When she's singing in her natural voice she's fine. When she's singing in that godawful baby bubble voice I want to bash my head against a wall.

Sadly they turned her into this twee ingénue for dirty old men and now her singing voice is horrendous.

I assumed the OP meant which singers aren’t talented AS singers. I think Bob Dylan is a very talented songwriter, I just don’t think he sings well.

I dont agree about Whitney Houston or Taylor Swift, I think they have great voices.

I think Tom Waits sounds horrendous like someone doing drunken Kareoke in a pub

Katy Perry
Chris Martin

Coming in at number....

3: Beyonce - wailing, moaning, groaning white bag whose either singing about shagging her minging husband or concerned someone's about to run off with him. Doesn't have a single good song in her back catalogue.

2: Chris Martin. Make it stop. Make all the songs stop. Except the US Comic Relief Game of thrones shindig that he did. I liked that.

1: PINK. Good fucking Lord. I don't care if you reckon you can sing upside down, I don't care that you have to make up for your shite songs and warbling tones whilst attempting to sing on a trapeze. You can't. It's agonising.

*shite bag I meant!

Jess Glynne, sounds like a goat.
JLo is pretty poor despite having a singing career.
I can't listen to Sam Smith because it's too waily but maybe that's the songs?
DH can't listen to Shakira warbling on.

Alicia Keys

Worst singing voice I have ever heard, just cannot listen, how on earth she won awards baffles me😐

I agree on both of those... BUT when Katherine was on The Masked Singer, she used her own natural voice - rather than that obligatory forced open-mouthed, perfect diction choral one that we know her for - and she sounded really lovely.

She was OK when she sang the soft, quiet bits; but when she stepped it up a gear and belted the power bits, it was like a pneumatic drill!

Ironic really, considering her surname: what's that old expression 'more keys than a janny's bunch'?!

That's me told!!!

We may have to agree to differ there!

Mariah Carey- I just don't like her voice
Britney spears
Robbie Williams
Will.I.am- talented, but can't hold a tune
Kylie
Cheryl

I thought Adele was a good singer until a few years ago I watching the Grammys and there was a country singer on, beautiful voice and so expressive. Next was Adele, who was absolute crap in comparison.

I would put Adele and Taylor on a similar level in that they write good songs and they play to their strengths but neither are particularly skilled when you put them live next to other better singers.

Taylor Swift, Leonard Cohen... eh?! They're incredible songwriters and don't belong here. As for the pp who said all TS songs sound the same; I mean, listen to Fearless followed by TTPD and Midnights and you'll realise what a daft statement that is.

If you're a talented musician and songwriter then you don't have to be a top-class singer as well in order to stay successful and relevant.

But where you can't sing, or write songs, and are relying on looks/charisma/trends to stay on top then you're going to struggle. See Katy Perry. At one point she was probably as big as Taylor Swift and Beyonce. But now she just looks a bit sad and desperate because she hasn't got the talent to be able to continue after the pop bubble burst. Whereas Beyonce, Swift, etc are writing songs into their 30s and 40s that draw on their own lives and have some authenticity about them, Perry is still trying to do the pop princess thing as she can't do anything else... and it doesn't work, sadly.

But you don't have to be good at all of them - and I think it takes a level of maturity to play to your strengths and then let others use theirs.

Andrew Lloyd-Webber is an extremely rich man as the rewards of his exceptional composing skills, but he's always left the lyrics to Tim Rice, Don Black and others; and then had Sarah Brightman or Michael Ball doing the singing, rather than grabbing the mic himself.