Great singers that don't have great voices

[taliac]

Hey all, I need some help please..

Am compiling a CD for a friend's son.

He wants to be a singer songwriter and from what I've heard his songs are pretty decent. However, his voice is a bit variable. Not awful, but he's trying to sing like Jeff Buckley and lets face it not many people can.

So I'm trying to prove that there are many different ways to deliver a song, and that you don't necessarily have to have a great voice to be a great singer.

But I need some examples.

Here are a handful to kick off with..

Tom Waits - Martha
Nico - Fairest of the Seasons
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
Lou Reed - Candy Says

Anyone got any ideas? Old or new, but in the singer songwriter genre for preference..

TIA..

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

Frank Zappa

Alex Kapranos (lead singer Franz Ferdinand) is a pretty average singer

Kermit the Frog I find this particularly moving

oh yes Ash - that guy really can't sing but still like them. 'Shining light' fab song

god, loads and LOADS
Half the World Away Oasis
Dare I say Kurt Cobain try Heart Shaped Box or Sliver
Cat Stevens Wild World

Leonard Cohen - especially singing Remembering Greensleeves - totally painful but I still like him
And much as I like Rufus Wainwright and think he is a good singer he does sing as if through clenched teeth which irritates me
I love Lou Reed !
Nico couldn't sing either

john lydon on everything
bryan adams on everything
mark owen on shine
chris martin doesn't really hit the notes on 'yellow'
Richard Ashcroft on bittersweet symphony

oh and the drugs don't work

Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays.

neil young? i have to turn wufus off his singing hits a pitch in my head :S

Willie Nelson
Billy Bragg

love them both

the great Tracey Thorn too

Feist: broken voice, but sounds great just the way she is
Vincent Delerm, Serge Gainsbourg...etc: really cannot/could not sing, but still excellent!

tracey thorn has a lovely voice!

oh yes, I love her voice but it's actually not that good

not a great singer either is Jane Birkin but she has charm

Robert Forster (Go Betweens)
Neil Tennant
Ian Dury

Ian Curtis
Barney Sumner

madonna, most of the spice girls, well most of any major pop band.

David Gray..

OOOh yes Jane Birkin, lovely.

And wow Vincent Delerm, great suggestion FP, not a name you hear in the UK too often which is a shame because he's fab. (Are you the same FP as on the Guardian RR btw? And are you named for the DC song, sorry I'm nosy..)

Thanks everyone.. now I'm off to Napster to start putting together a definitive CD.. Wish me luck!

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr is pretty awful but absolutely perfect for his music. Ditto Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.

If you want really randomly bad but still great, check out some Oxbow

Hi talilac, I don't post on The Groniard, but yes I am named after the TDC song (and I am a froggy...)
Vincent Delerm is wonderful, I do hope he turns up at the TDC gig in Paris! I however cannot stand Jane Birkin, but I love Charlotte Gainsbourg!!