Rank Best Female Rockers

[Jolly Blue Giant]

We are now entering the dead zone of football talk, although I expect some interesting conversations during training camp. But for now, the board is just not that exciting.

We've talked a lot about rock bands and many other things concerning music, but I don't think we've ever talked about favorite female singers of the "Rock" genre. So...I'm not talking about Taylor Swift, or Gwen Stefani, or Shania Twain. I'm talking real "rockers". I've put together an incomplete list of female rockers who I like, and I'll rank them in my order later, should this thread takes off. Looking for the "Top Three Female Rockers". Of course, it's all subjective as people like what they like. A heads-up, I like unique voices. I didn't use the YouTube button in order to keep this post shorter, but you can click it and it takes two seconds longer

Gracie Slick – I saw her in concert on a surprise free concert on the beach when I was in Ocean City, MD. She (with Jefferson Airplane) was one of the undercards for the Beach Boys. She is the only woman rocker I've ever seen in concert...which actually surprises me. Interesting sub-story. Gracie and her husband moved to a nice house in a cul-de-sac in California. She changed her name in order to live incognito. She was friends with all the women in the neighborhood who had no idea who she was. Anyway, Gracie found out her husband was cheating on her, and she chased him down the street firing a shotgun over his head. She was arrested and made headlines for a famous person getting arrested...shocking all the women who thought they knew her...LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEDnnT88A3w

Stevie Nicks Everyone knows Stevie as she had a lot of hits...probably "Edge of Seventeen" being the biggest, but she had a lot of big ones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwS9BIqbffU

Joan Jett – Her big hit was bastardized for Sunday Night Football...I will see her this summer at the NYS Fair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpNw7jYkbVc

Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes) – one of my favorite female singers of all time. I got tickets to an Aerosmith concert in Binghamton years ago, and she was the undercard. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it because she blew out her vocal cords the week before after being named "Best Musician Newcomer" to San Francisco. She didn't take professional singing lessons and sang with her throat rather than resonating volume against the roof of her mouth. She never sang again,  Only Elvis was able to sing from the throat and survive a lifetime (well a partial lifetime) of singing. Linda now writes music for Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, etc. Very talented woman and I like her a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXnxTNIWkc

Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde)  - here she is singing "Joey", a great song (tune-wise and singing-wise) but the song is extremely melancholy as she sings about a man who is overcome with alcoholism and in a battle for his life against the bottle. Kind of hits home as a good friend of mine who started drinking the hard stuff from morning til night...he died at 42 yrs old on Christmas morning a couple of years ago. His wife is still having problems dealing with something where she just couldn't help him. I would never play this song when she is present...nosiree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpTcvSn8HQ

Debbie Harry (Blondie) – not sure if she fits in the group of "rockers", but some people think so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGU_4-5RaxU

Bonnie Tyler – grittiest voice among all women. Her best known song was played more times last month than in the last 40 years, as people waited for the full eclipse LOL  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo

Pat Benatar – genuine rocker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vppgaVcnfS0

Amy Winehouse – unique voice and I add her to the list mostly because she died at the same age of 27 a drug overdose and joined the "27 Club" with Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain. This song is pretty dang melancholy, but shows off her chops. They blank out the word "blow", for which the guy died of (fentanyl laced nose candy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8

Janis Joplin – the queen of rockers, but a little rough around the edges, one might say https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRhHdFRFBAs

Ann Williams (Heart) – often confused with Beach Boys, Brian Wilson's daughter(s) Wendy and Carna who teamed up with Chyna Phillips (daughter of Michele Phillips of the Mamas and Papas) and started the group "Wilson Phillips". Heart comprised sisters' Ann and Nancy Williams who got into a huge fight forcing the band to break up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZjEC4WhCvg

[Ed Vette]

No love for Linda Ronstadt, Tina or Melissa Etheridge?

Nobody tops Janice.

Then there are other folk/Pop Icons. Joan Baez, Carol king, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins... 

[Sem]

No love for Linda Ronstadt, Tina or Melissa Etheridge?

Nobody tops Janice.

Then there are other folk/Pop Icons. Joan Baez, Carol king, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins... 

I would put Linda Ronstadt at the top of my list, even ahead of Janis, due to her versatility.

Personally I don't think Carole King has a great voice, (I do love it though), but her strength is more as a songwriter.

**edit: It's Ann Wilson of Heart, not Williams. And yes, she's right up there on the list.

I would also add Bonnie Raitt


Depending on how far you want to stretch the term "rocker..."
Karen Carpenter!!
Diana Ross
Etta James
Barbara Streisand

[Ed Vette]

I would put Linda Ronstadt at the top of my list, even ahead of Janis, due to her versatility.

Personally I don't think Carole King has a great voice, (I do love it though), but her strength is more as a songwriter.


Depending on how far you want to stretch the term "rocker..."
Karen Carpenter!!
Diana Ross
Etta James
Barbara Streisand

I loved Karen Carpenter and Mama Cass.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I loved Karen Carpenter and Mama Cass.

I agree they had great voices (Mama Cass was in a league all her own), but I didn't think of them as "rockers". My list wasn't "complete" as I pointed out. Completely forgot about Ronstadt...loved her. she should be on the list. The others mentioned aren't really my idea of "rocker" differs from others

I mean, Shania Twain rocks more than Karen Carpenter by a thousand miles...and I didn't include her because even though she rocks the house down...I don't think of her as a "rocker", but she is cool 

And believe me, if you've never been to a country concert and compared them with a rock concert, country tends to be louder and rockier at concerts

[Ed Vette]

I agree they had great voices (Mama Cass was in a league all her own), but I didn't think of them as "rockers". My list wasn't "complete" as I pointed out. Completely forgot about Ronstadt...loved her. she should be on the list. The others mentioned aren't really my idea of "rocker" differs from others

I mean, Shania Twain rocks more than Karen Carpenter by a thousand miles...and I didn't include her because even though she rocks the house down...I don't think of her as a "rocker", but she is cool 

And believe me, if you've never been to a country concert and compared them with a rock concert, country tends to be louder and rockier at concerts

Theatrics. Not even close!

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I have to admit, Shania puts a lot of energy and theatrics in her performances. It's just her personality...very upbeat in performances and can't stand still...it's who she is. She's definitely not the stand at the mike and sing type. She has a great story though. Grew up in Canada in extreme poverty. Her father left her mother and Shania and her two younger sisters. Her mother married a full-blooded Cree, and he raised her like a father would. They were so poor that Shania would pretend to eat at school because she was afraid Social Services would take her and her sisters due to lack of food. At 8-years old, she would sing in bars late at night after alcohol was no longer served. She would make about 20.00 a night doing that and give it to her parents so they could have food. In her teen years she joined a kid's band and got recognized for her songwriting and singing as was courted by big producers (similar to child star Swift), but Shania's mother and step-father were killed in a car accident about the same time she graduated from H.S. So she put music on the back burner to raise her younger sisters until the youngest graduated. After that, she went all out into music and only sold over 100 million records, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and the best-selling female artist in country music history. A rags-to-riches story if there ever was one. She's called the "Queen of Country Pop". But as I was trying to point out, I don't think of her as a "rocker", just a country girl having fun performing

[DaveBrown74]

I have a hard time ranking anyone above Stevie Nicks, but that's probably due to how much I like Fleetwood Mac, and I would be the first to say that Fleetwood Mac was never about just one band member.

[y_so_blu]

Pat Benatar and Joan Jett are at the top of my list. Amazing pipes.

Karen Carpenter wasn't a rocker but still an amazing singer.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

I have a hard time ranking anyone above Stevie Nicks, but that's probably due to how much I like Fleetwood Mac, and I would be the first to say that Fleetwood Mac was never about just one band member.

I put Stevie high on my list of best rocker female. Lately, she's been palling up with Taylor Swift and some country music stars. She wrote a poem for Taylor Swift in her last album released a week ago and Stevie said Taylor's song, "You're on Your Own Now Kid", helped her deal with the loss of her close friend Christine McVie...hence, the poem Nicks wrote for Swift. They sang together at the Grammy's and to be honest, it wasn't good LOL. However, they've become close. Stevie looks and sounds her age. Aging is such a cruel bitch https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2023/10/03/stevie-nicks-references-taylor-swift-as-she-discusses-the-future-of-fleetwood-mac/?sh=92def8d2f249

Anyway, I didn't include (or didn't mean to) country music in the rock genre, but there's a lot of crossover going on these days. Guess who the number one country music singer is right now...drum roll please...Beyoncé! Go figure. And recently, Stevie Nicks and country singer Ingrid Andress teamed up to sing a country duet

Regardless, supposedly country music is the hardest genre of music for women to get into. And if you make it, you tend to go really big. It's how Taylor Swift got her start before switching to pop. And now we have Beyoncé switching to country...makes my head spin keeping up with this stuff LOL

Can't make this stuff up! Who's next? Cher?

[LennG]

Since I am from a different generation, my idea of Rockers may differ from some others

#5 Debbie Harry
#4 Grace Slick
#3-Cher
#2-Ronnie Spector (Ronnettes)
#1--Tina Turner

And just for pure best voice Mama Cass

[Sem]

A couple more that I thought of who I really enjoy.

Dolores O'Riordan (RIP)
Chrissie Hynde

[LennG]

[ozzie]

My list:

Joan Jett - Icon.

Lzzy Hale - Guitarist and lead singer of the band Halestorm. She is also fronting Iron Maiden for a few shows this summer I believe.

Ann & Nancy Wilson - I think if you name one to your list, you have to name both!

Orianthi - Incredible guitar player who backed Michael Jackson & Alice Cooper

Nita Strauss - also played with Alice Cooper and is the Officeial In-house guitarist for the LA Rams!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWaYs8HOPaY

Plenty more deserving for sure, but that's my list.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

As I said, it's all subjective, so it's all about personal taste. I'll never forget a word of advice from Simon Cowell to amateur singers trying to make it to the winner's circle. He said, "I cannot emphasize enough, the importance of picking the right song to demonstrate your voice...because the 'catchiness' of the song, is just as important as your voice". Boy ain't that the truth. There are great singers who sang songs that never connected with the audience, and that is what is needed to succeed in the music business. Some women would make this list had they chosen the right song

My ranking:

5) Tie between Bonnie Taylor and Pat Benatar – deep and unique alto voices with a growl. Taylor sounds almost like she gargled with broken glass before stepping up to the mic
4) I really like Linda Perry (4 Non Blondes) as a powerful rocker's voice. Had she not destroyed her vocal cords, it's possible she could have worked her way to number one in my book. Too little released material to fairly judge her. I love her deep alto voice and her switching to falsetto during her song
3) Stevie Nicks – a unique voice that worked perfectly for the music she sang. Very passionate woman with a stack of gold records
2) Gracie Slick – a unique and powerful alto voice with a rocker's heart. I just like her. I remember seeing her on stage at a beach in Ocean City anxious to hear "We Built this City on Rock and Roll", which she sang and I loved it. Later I read that she hated that song...LOL
1) Gotta give it to Joan Jett, a true rock and roller who plays guitar like a rock star and never strayed into pop or country, remaining true to her rock roots and didn't get lost in drugs and scandals. I always figured a true musician not only sang, but also played and instrument like it was second nature. I hope she gets royalties for Sunday Night Football using her song

Shout out to Janice Joplin who was a total rocker, I just didn't care for her music. But she was one of a kind. Dittos with Amy Winehouse and her ultra unique voice
I really love Johnette Napolitano with her deep rich alto voice, but even better when she jumps an octave in the same song and sings falsetto, which is actually more beautiful (or unique) than her alto voice. The contrast is incredible...and she plays bass guitar
Also, little tidbit about Debbie Harry (Blondie), one of the few soprano voices I like. Adopted at birth, she never knew her real parents. But her birthdate and place of birth coincided perfectly with date/place of stories by Marylin Monroe (where she lived as a teen), who repeatedly told others about getting pregnant as a teen and being forced to give it up for adoption. For years, people (conspiracists) believe Debbie Harry is actually Marylin Monroe's illegitimate child she never knew. They say you can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice