Best female vocals on CD

Diana Krall, Holly Cole, and Sara Brightman are all great. I would add to this distinguished list Rickie Lee Jones for her album "POP POP" which is outstanding. In the classical arena I would list Kathleen Battle for her "Live at Carnegie Hall" CD. But this is just for classical music lovers. That is what makes choosing a "Best female on CD" so difficult.

Margo Timmins/Cowboy Junkies on the Trinity Sessions. Probably the best soundstage/live feel.

Looking through my cd collection....only female artists I seem to consistently reach for are Enya, Aretha Franklin, Diana Krall, and Rebecca Pidgeon. Just this evening, opened Etta James "Life, Love, and the Blues" (1998) and know I have found something. Sorry boys, I went out and bought Cowboy Junkies' "Miles From Our Home," and MT just doesn't "do it" for me. And I went and bought a Linda Ronstadt...I mean Jennifer Warnes cd....that is nice as well. Thanks for all the great advice. Charlie

Let's not forget Janis Joplin. She did for rock music and the blues, what Billie Holiday did for jazz and Bessie Smith did for the blues. Some of my favorites: Patricia Barber, Jennifer Warnes, Judy Mowatt (reggae queen), Ella Fitzgerald, Esther Saddisfield (sp) she vocals on Chuck Mangione's Land Of Make Believe, Linda Ronstadt (for her versatility), Diana Krall (for her bedroom voice), Sarah Vaughn, Etta James, and Keith Richards (oops!)

Trisha Yearwood is on the soundtrack CD to "Stuart Little" the mouse movie. Very nice disco-ish vocals, and assume that she has other albums/CD's. I had mentioned the late great Laura Nyro earlier in this thread and a few days later stumbled upon "The Best Of Laura Nyro", a double CD. Unfortunatley her voice does not ring true on this compilation by Sony/Columbia due to poor sound engineering (way beyond the CD vs vinyl debate, just a plain crappy over compressed/limited and tasteless job). Except for three live cuts that the engineer(s) did not botch, it does not bring back the fond memories of listening to the vinyl versions. Picked up Holly Cole "Temptation" and could not get into it at all. Though she's interesting in a kind of "Beat me up, take me home and call me Peggy" way. Not to everyone's taste. On a more positive note Linda Thompson of Richard and Linda has a great voice and so did (young) Nico of Lou Reed fame. Claudine Longet is a nice piece of vocal fluff, just don't play her around the Olympic Ski Team.