The top 10 black female singers of all time

[jobeterob]

Break Studios Contributing Writer

The top 10 black female singers of all time have won dozens of Grammy Awards and have hundreds of Top 100 songs between them. They are Hall of Fame singers and Global Ambassadors. Overall, these women are some of the most popular singers of all time.

Aretha Franklin - Aretha Franklin recorded her first album at the age of fourteen and went on to become one of the most famous black female singers of all time. Franklin won eighteen Grammy Awards during her over 50-year career. In 1987, she became the first woman ever inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston’s debut album was the best-selling album by a female artist at the time of its release. She went on to build a career as one of the best black female singers of all time. She won two Emmy Awards and six Grammy Awards. Houston sold over 200 million albums worldwide.Diana Ross - Diana Ross began her career as one of the best black female singers of all time with Motown band The Supremes. She has 24 Top 10 singles and fourteen Top 10 albums. Diana Ross also had eighteen No. 1 singles, including six as a solo artist. Diana Ross also has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one as a solo artist and the other with The Supremes.
Gladys Knight - Gladys Knight achieved success both as a member of Gladys Knight and the Pips as well as a solo artist, becoming one of the best black female singers of all time. She recorded over twenty Top 10 singles including the No. 1 single “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” Knight also won four Grammys as a solo artist.
Natalie Cole - Natalie Cole is an R&B and jazz musician that is one of the best black female singers of all time thanks to nine Grammy Awards. Cole began her career as a successful R&B star but in recent years transformed into a more pop and jazz style. She won her first Grammy Award in 1975 and her most recent in 2009.
Etta James - Etta James signed her first recording contract in 1960 and had her first major hits including “All I Could Do Is Cry.” She also preformed background vocals on Chuck Berry’s “Back in the USA.” Etta James made a comeback in the late eighties and became one of the most successful black female singers of all time, winning her first Grammy in 1994. In 2002, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Janet Jackson - While never as popular as her brother, Janet Jackson remains one of the most popular black female singers of all time. She has sold over 100 million albums worldwide over her career, spanning over three decades. Jackson has recorded ten No. 1 singles and enjoyed 27 Top 10 hits. She has also won six Grammy Awards and one Emmy.
Alicia Keys - Alicia Keys began her career in 1997 and quickly ascended the charts to become one of the most successful black female singers of all time. In just over ten years as a musician, Keys has won thirteen Grammy Awards with 24 nominations.
Donna Summer - Donna Summer got her start during the disco days of the seventies and became one of the most successful black female singers of all time. Over her career, Summer has received five Grammy Awards and twelve nominations. From 1976 to 1984, Summer recorded a Top 40 hit every year.
Dionne Warwick - Dionne Warwick is currently the U.S. Ambassador of Health but before taking that role she became one of the best black female singers of all time. Between 1962 and 1999, Warwick reached the Top 100 56 times, second to only Aretha Franklin.

[daddyacey]

"OF ALL TIME"
?????? Did I miss something? Has" TIME" run out???? Like the dry groove at the end of a record? Like the sound of leader tape or film flapping at the end of the reel? Like the digital readout of a CD player at the end ,resets itself to track 1? Is this.........IT???

And only 10?????

[roger]

"OF ALL TIME"
?????? Did I miss something? Has" TIME" run out???? Like the dry groove at the end of a record? Like the sound of leader tape or film flapping at the end of the reel? Like the digital readout of a CD player at the end ,resets itself to track 1? Is this.........IT???

And only 10?????

Well then Daddyacey .. some predict that the world will end on 21st December this year .. so maybe the compilers of this list have a point.

Read about it here ..

http://www.endoftime2012.com/

Roger

[RossHolloway]

So no Tina Turner?

[bankhousedave]

Ha ha. I think the tape is flapping for the writer of this, Daddy. 'Diana Ross began her career as one of the best black female singers of all time with Motown band The Supremes'? Earth to Break Studios, the janitor is playing with your computers.

[motony]

LOL, Donna Summer?She would be in the Top Ten Disco singers. I agree with Aretha & Gladys Knight

[bankhousedave]

Yeah, Ross, and no Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Jessye Norman, Lady Day, etc., etc. Doh. You should be able to get this 'contributing writer' under the trades descriptions act, Jobete.

[milven]

No Dinah Washington? And to leave out the First Lady of Song, Miss Ella ? Wow !!!!
And how can they compile a list of the best black singers without even a mention of the great Shantel Baker [[the super songstress who replaced Diana in the Supremes [[at least in her mind)

[skooldem1]

Why do I get the feeling that had Mary Wells, or Jean Terrell been included on this list, there would be no problem?

[soulster]

This is why I ignore top ten lists.

[milven]

My problem with a list like this is that it is a list of All Time but the list starts with singers of the sixties and on. Is that when time began? What about Josephine Baker, Alberta Hunter and Bessie Smith, Lena Horne and the great Ethel Waters who recorded, sang on Broadway and even had a TV show. Start the video below at about 5:00 and listen to her sing Suppertime, a song about her having to prepare supper for the family even after just learning that her husband has been lynched. ALL TIME ?? Watch this performance and I am sure that you will have to ask , Why is Janet on the list and not her? Or all the other forgotten great singers of the earlier part of the 20th Century.

[marv2]

"OF ALL TIME"
?????? Did I miss something? Has" TIME" run out???? Like the dry groove at the end of a record? Like the sound of leader tape or film flapping at the end of the reel? Like the digital readout of a CD player at the end ,resets itself to track 1? Is this.........IT???

And only 10?????

Daddy! Come on now. Now you know there are all kinds of other lists and this person put up "a list" that suits his own likes most. I can put up a list that would show the Top 100 and it would very much different from this list in regards to the Top 10. Is this it? Heck NO! LOL!!!!

[marv2]

Well then Daddyacey .. some predict that the world will end on 21st December this year .. so maybe the compilers of this list have a point.

Read about it here ..

http://www.endoftime2012.com/

Roger

I thought it was suppose to be back in May?

[bankhousedave]

This cannot be taken seriously. It's the kind of list a kid makes up in their school jotter. Doesn't matter who made the list and who didn't because there is no evaluation. You need four qualities to win a place on this: you have to be a singer, female, black and known to the compiler. It's the last qualification that throws a bit of an arbitrary in there. File under meaningless.

[bankhousedave]

The world actually ended in December 1959. We're just going through the bonus tracks.

[marv2]

The world actually ended in December 1959. We're just going through the bonus tracks.

OH S**T! Now that was funny!!!! LOL! Thanks Dave!

[marv2]

This cannot be taken seriously. It's the kind of list a kid makes up in their school jotter. Doesn't matter who made the list and who didn't because there is no evaluation. You need four qualities to win a place on this: you have to be a singer, female, black and known to the compiler. It's the last qualification that throws a bit of an arbitrary in there. File under meaningless.

I just put up ANOTHER list. It's called "100 Greatest 'Female' R&B/Soul Vocalists" check it out and say what you think of the list.

[carlo]

I would have also included Patti LaBelle and Marilyn McCoo.

[luke]

lolol bankhouse Dave

[jobeterob]

Now Davey, be gentle. LOL. This is not in my list of publications!

[carlo]

and how can they compile a list of the best black singers without even a mention of the great shantel baker [[the super songstress who replaced diana in the supremes [[at least in her mind)

lol!!!!!!!!

[smark21]

A more accurate way to describe the list would be "My top ten favorite black female singers of all time".

[pshark]

This is mainly a list of the most successful black female singers rather then the best.
Big difference. Janet Jackson is one of the most popular female singers, but no where near the best.