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..

Leonard Cohen
Nancy Sinatra
Marlene Dietrich
Nico

Bowie - he had a wonderful voice but he wasn’t a singer in the traditional sense.

@harpsichordcarrier but ‘The Drugs don’t work’ is still an amazing song.

Wow! I've only skimmed through the thread, but has no-one mentioned Jagger? Love the Stones, amazing talents, but he never was a great singer. But he adapted well.

Tom DeLong

Tim Burgess

Bernard Sumner

Ian Brown

Liam Gallagher

I just went... Napster! How are they still using that?

Then I realised it is I who am fashionably late to the party.