Top 10 Female Singers With Male Sounding Voices

A female voice may sound masculine because it's too low, raspy, powerful, aggressive, deep, or all in one. Or she growls like a male.
The Top Ten
1 Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, known for her hits "Fast Car" and "Give Me One Reason", along with other singles "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Crossroads", "New Beginning" and "Telling Stories".

It was when I was 7. My dad and I were listening to Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution in the car. I always thought it was a guy singing until my dad said the singer was called Tracy Chapman. So, I searched her up and it was a woman. Then I realized I was so wrong.

I thought it was a man singing Fast Car for years until I looked on YouTube and saw it was a woman singing it.

I thought the person who sang Fast Car was a man. Great voice, but not very feminine-sounding.

2 Alissa White-Gluz Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian vocalist, best known as the former lead vocalist and one of the founding members of the Canadian metal band, The Agonist, and current lead vocalist for the Swedish melodic death metal group, Arch Enemy.

While I first thought that a male did the vocals of Arch Enemy's "War Eternal", I can hear the traces of female vocals on some of her songs. Maybe because of how I heard her clean vocals in The Agonist.

Insane voice she has. She literally growls like a man.

3 Nina Simone Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

When I first heard her, I was shocked to discover the voice I'd been loving belonged to a female!

Still struggling to process that "Sinnerman" was sung by a woman. All this time I thought it was a guy.

This singer came popping into my head as soon as I saw the title of this list.

4 Angela Gossow Angela Nathalie Gossow is a German vocalist, best known as the former lead vocalist for the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy.

She's a one-of-a-kind singer for a death metal band. I love her.

5 Alison Moyet Geneviève Alison Jane Moyet is an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy contralto voice.

Ah, one of the best female voices of the 80s. I may be the only TopTenner who was around in her heyday, haha. Still love her today.

I didn't realize the song 'All Cried Out' was sung by a woman!

6 Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton was October 7th 1967 in Severn, Maryland the oldest of six siblings.She has sold 67 million records worldwide. She is been named the ''Queen of R&B'' and has one of the most distinctive voices of the late 20th century.
7 Monica Monica is an R&B singer who was most popular in the 90s. Her most well-known song was "The Boy Is Mine" with R&B singer Brandy.
8 Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper. Born and raised in New York City, she became an Internet celebrity by achieving popularity on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, which depicted her pursuit of her music aspirations. She... read more

She sounds like a 13-year-old male with a mental disability.

9 Amanda Lear
10 Mariah Carey Mariah Carey, born March 27, 1970, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She is one of the biggest best-selling women in the music industry, with 18 number 1 records to her name. She is regarded as a sex symbol through her songs and music videos, and she is "well known" for her over-the-top sexy poses and for having breast implants. She is also known to be a diva, and she is well known for... read more

In her recent performance of "Vision of Love" on New Year's Eve, she sounded like an 80-year-old man. I guess all the smoking and drinking she does is catching up with her?

The Contenders
11 Melissa Etheridge Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist. Her self-titled debut album Melissa Etheridge was released in 1988 and became an underground success.
12 Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, professionally known by her stage name Katy Perry, was born on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California. She is a singer, songwriter, actress and an ambassador on one of the most popular companies of now, UNICEF.

She is also is one of the best-selling artists of all time. She won 4 Guinness World Records, 5 MTV Awards, 5 American Music Awards, 16'ASCAP Pop Music... read more

When she sings live, her voice is lower and sounds a bit androgynous.

13 Tanita Tikaram Tanita Tikaram is a German-born British pop/folk singer-songwriter. She achieved chart success with the singles "Twist in My Sobriety" and "Good Tradition" from her 1988 debut album, Ancient Heart.
14 K.S. Chithra 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.

Such a deep, powerful voice you'd be convinced it is a male voice.

15 Beyonce Knowles Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, is an American singer and actress, who started out in the popular pop/r&b girl group Destiny's Child. They had multiple top 5 hits such as "No, No, No", "Say My Name", "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Survivor", "Independent Women", "Bootylicious", and "Jumpin', Jumpin" from 1999 to 2004. After they broke up in 2006, Beyonce pursued her solo career, creating smash hits such... read more

The funny thing is that in most songs she sounds womanly, but when she speaks she sounds manly.

16 Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj (born December 8, 1982) is a Trinidadian/American rapper / pop music artist. Minaj is most known for her songs such as "Anaconda", "Super Bass", "Starships" and her feature on "Bang Bang".

Despite her controversial songs, Brent Staples from "The New York Times" claimed her to be 'the most influential female rapper of all time', presumably... read more

Sometimes she sounds like a man, but other times she sounds like a little girl. Weird.

17 Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and audio engineer. She is known for her involvement in electronic music and as a member of the short-lived project Frou Frou. Born in the London Borough of Havering, Heap became classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet at a young age.
18 Anita Baker Anita Denise Baker is a retired American singer-songwriter. Starting her career in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8, Baker eventually released her first solo album, The Songstress, in 1983. In 1986, she rose to stardom following the release of her platinum-selling second album, Rapture, which included the Grammy-winning single "Sweet Love".

She does sound like a man who has been whining and crying all the time.

19 Cher Cher is an American singer and actress. Described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry, she is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances during her five-decade-long career, which has led to her being nicknamed the Goddess of Pop.
20 Bonnie Tyler Bonnie Tyler is a Welsh singer. She is known for her distinctive husky voice, resulting from an operation to remove vocal nodules in the mid-1970s.
21 Iggy Azalea Amethyst Amelia Kelly, born June 7, 1990 known professionally as Iggy Azalea, is an Australian rapper, singer, songwriter, and model.
22 Joan Jett Joan Marie Larkin known professionally by her stage name Joan Jett, is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and occasional actress, best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, preceded by success with The Runaways, including their hit song "Cherry Bomb".

Her performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction concert for Nirvana was deeper than Kurt's!

23 Kim Carnes Kim Carnes is a two-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter. Born in Los Angeles, California, Carnes now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where she continues to write music.
24 Marla Glen
25 Darby Mills Darby Phyllis Mills is a Canadian rock vocalist, former figure skater; known best as the lead singer of the Headpins.

Very loud, aggressive, and raspy voice. Songs: Headpins - Don't It Make Ya Feel, Mine All Mine, Line of Fire, People.

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