Top Ten 90s and 00s Singers with the Most Haunting Vocals
Layne Thomas Staley was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains, which he founded with guitarist Jerry Cantrell in Seattle, Washington in 1987. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s. In 2002, Staley was found dead in his home of a drug overdose. Layne is at the top of this list, no contest. Just listen to any, ANY AiC song and you'll see what I mean.
Chester Charles Bennington (March 20th, 1976 - July 20th, 2017) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor, best known for being the lead singer of Linkin Park. Before he was known for Linkin Park, Bennington was the lead singer of post-grunge act Grey Daze who was heavily inspired by Stone Temple Pilots they released two albums with Chester before his death. Wake Me and No Sun Today, a third album called Amends would be released in 2020 consisting of voice samples from Bennington. After Grey Daze dissolved, Bennington would join Linkin Parkin in 1999 formerly called Hybrid Theory, replacing former vocalist Mark Wakefield, who would go on to become Taproot's producer. Even with Bennington's ...read more. Why did he have to die?! Whether you like Linkin Park or not, you have to admit Chester kicked ass.
Paul Bruce Dickinson, known professionally as Bruce Dickinson, (born 7 August 1958) is an English musician, airline pilot, and broadcaster. He is most well known for being the lead singer in heavy metal band Iron Maiden and his solo career.Outside his career in music, Dickinson has pursued a number of other activities. He undertook a career as a commercial pilot for Astraeus Airlines, which led to a number of media-reported ventures such as captaining Iron Maiden's converted charter aeroplane, Ed Force One, during their world tours. Following Astraeus' closure, he created his own aircraft maintenance and pilot training company, Cardiff Aviation, in 2012. Dickinson presented his own radio show ...read more. Absolutely phenomenal singer, one of the best of all time. He did record some I'm albums in the 90s and returned in 2000, so I'm adding him to this list.
Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997) raised as Scott "Scottie" Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Jeff Buckley was born in Anaheim, California, from musical lineage. His mother, Mary Guibert, was a classically trained musician, and his father, Tim Buckley, was a well-known folk singer. Buckley, however, only met his father one time; the two spent a week together when Jeff was 8. The elder Buckley died of a heroin overdose at age 28, less than a year after the pair's meeting. ...read more.
His cover of "Hallelujah". Enough said.
Lilac Wine's vocals are awesome, too.
Eddie Vedder is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Pearl Jam, with whom he performs lead vocals and is one of three guitarists. Listen to "Jeremy" for Vedder's best vocal performance. Or, perhaps, "Nothing As It Seems". He perfectly sets the mood for both tracks. And all of Pearl Jam's songs, really.
Kurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1987, he started the grunge band Nirvana, which became one of the most successful bands ever. He was a talented yet troubled grunge performer. Kurt Cobain became a rock legend in the 1990s with his band. He committed suicide at his Seattle home in 1994. While his voice was very hoarse, he did have some genuine credibility with "Something In The Way", "All Apologies", and "Dumb".
Win has this incredible voice that is timeless. In fact, he makes songs such as Neighborhood #1 and Wake Up all the more better.
Thomas Edward "Thom" Yorke is an English musician best known as the singer and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Radiohead. This one's obvious. His perfomances on "The Bends", "OK Computer", and "Kid A" are LEGENDARY.
David Jon Gilmour is an English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He joined the progressive rock band Pink Floyd as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1968.
Christopher John "Chris" Cornell was an American rock musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and rhythm guitarist for Seattle rock band Soundgarden and as former lead vocalist and songwriter for the supergroup Audioslave. His vocal range was C2 to A5, while his highest notes went up to G6. He died on May 17, 2017. While Chris is more of a soulful singer, he can really, REALLY hit those high notes. That's why it's so haunting.
Hansi Kürsch, born Hans Jürgen Kürsch, is the lead singer, lyricist, co-composer and bassist for German power metal band Blind Guardian . Heavily influenced by Freddie Mercury, he creates a huge choir effect by overdubbing his own voice multiple times in complex, overlapping vocal harmonies. He records each vocal track individually because harmonizers and "perfect pitch" programs don't work with his voice due to distortion and the natural double layer effects his vocal cords have .His early technique made use of a more aggressive and harsher, "screaming" technique . ...read more.
A voice that can be extremely sad yet beautiful and powerful.
Demons & Wizards - Path of Glory, Fiddler On the Green, Love's Tragedy Asunder, Down Where I Am
Blind Guardian - Lord of the Rings, Harvest of Sorrow, A Past and Future Secret
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead singer of rock band Coldplay. Yeah, I'm adding him to this list. While I'm not a fan of Coldplay, he does have some talent, and his best performance in my opinion is in "Clocks".
Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, often credited as K. S. Chithra or simply Chithra, is an Indian playback singer from Kerala. Chithra also sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music.
Chino Moreno is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and contributing guitarist of Deftones.
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, most closely associated with the progressive rock genre. He is best known for his band Porcupine Tree.Lead singer of Jimmy Eat World, the band that basically invented what would later become popular as "emo" (many claim Sunny Day Real Estate was, but actually, they sound nothing like later emo).
Just listen to their song "Pain" and hear the desperation in the chorus. "haww haww haww".
Lenna Kuurmaa is an Estonian singer, songwriter and guitarist born on September 26, 1985. ...read more. On her records, her voice is unfiltered and not in any way altered. The vocals in her songs, most of which are as the lead singer of Vanilla Ninja, are so full of bumps and characteristic slightly hoarse moments that her performances come across thrice as emotional and honest as that of an average singer with a good voice. Don't get me wrong: she sings wonderfully, but it's not in the slightest polished, that's what makes it so haunting and beautiful.
Example: "Spirit of the Dawn" by Vanilla Ninja.
Petrus Thomas Ratajczyk, better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative.