Who's The Top Among
Female Vocalists
Anita Baker, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston
By Corey Brown
Staff
Who is the top female vocalist
of today (in terms of talent and not
in record sales)? When asking
this question, Anita Baker, Mar
iah Carey and Whitney Houston
come to my mind. To try and
make a legitimate and fair com
parison between the three. I’ve
choscn several different areas to
critique. Five points is the highest
score for each category with the
highest possible score being thirty.
Voice Strength: (Ability to
hold notes and switch tones.)
Anita-5— Time and time again
Anita shows this talent. With
songs like, “Sweet Love” and
“Just Because” she has proven
that her voice is among the best.
Mariah-S— When “Vision of
Love” was released she immedi
ately established herself as a strong
vocalist Definitelyaperfectscore,
she can make transitions between
chords like nobody’s business.
Whitney-5— “Greatest Love of
All,” “One Moment in Time,”
“You Give Good Love,” need 1
say more?
Voice Range: (How high and
how low a note can be reached?)
Anita-3— Without a doubt this is
Anita’s weakest area She is not
equipped to hit the higher notes
like her counterparts, but she can
go low with the best of them.
Mariah-5— Sometimes, Mariah
showcases her ability loo much. In
“All in Y our Mind” she hits a pitch
that dogs can understand. She can
also reach down deep to lower
tones as well.
Whitney-5— Ever since she was
conceived Whitney has had a
strong voice range. She has her
mother Sissy to thank for that
blessing.
Voice Compatibility: (Does
the artists’ voice go well with the
music?)
Anita-5— This has to be her
strongest area. Anita’s smooth,
silky voice coupled with a jazzy,
relaxing background make for
many enjoyable nights with that
special someone.
Mariah-5— Mariah also does a
good job in this field. There’s never
a lime that her music undermines
her voice or vice versa.
Whitney-4— Whitney’s voice,
more often than not, overshadows
the music she sings over. An ex
ample of this would be in “I Wanna
Dance with Somebody Who Loves
Me.” It is strictly her voice that
carried that song.
Artistic Ability:
Anita-5— Of the many top ten
songs Anita has had, she has writ
ten most of them. “Sweet Love,”
“Giving You The Best That I Got”
and “Fairy Tales” were all com
posed by Anita. She is also the
executive producer on each of her
four albums. This means she has
total control on what final changes
can be made on a song.
Mariah-5— Of the eleven songs
written on her debut album, Mar
iah wrote each one of them. As a
fellow artist or as a music fan,
you ’ ve got to respect the talent she
has.
Whitney-3— It’s not Whitney’s
fault she was not blessed with the
ability to write or compose, but as
it stands now she has a limited say
in her career direction. For the
most part, she just shows up and
sings and lets her producers do the
comes out, we won’t necessarily
know if she has a sound to identify
with. But judging from the first,
she has found her little niche.
Whitney-3— It may seem like I’m
being hard on Whitney but think
about her albums. With each one
comes something new just when
we were getting used to her old
ways. I also think her songs have a
tendency to sound alike. Off the
lop of my head I think back to her
“remake” of “All at Once,”in the
form of “Didn’t We Almost Have
It All.”
Originality/Style
Anita-5—Anitaisinaclassofher
own. The way she incorporates
jazz into her style and her willing
ness to try something new from
time to lime makes this woman
dynamic.
Mariah-3— Mariah can be cloned
as a Whitney Houston type. I must
admit the first time I heard, “Vi
sion of Love,” I thought it was
Whitney. They both use some of
the same oohs and mmms. Mariah
People, Arts
dirty work. This is the reason she
came out with a second album full
of ‘pop slmoch’ and it’s also the
reason she has still not found a
style that says “Whitney.”
Sound: (Consistency of the
artists’ “sound” without it being
the “same” time and again.)
A nita-5— Anita continues to have
a jazz sound, but does not make
the mistake of letting her music
overlap to become the same song
over and over.
Mariah-4— This might be an
unfair category in which to rate
Mariah. Until her second album
will probably “come into her own”
with a second LP.
Whitney-3— Her style is loo
mainstream to be original. But
when she matures more as far as
the business side of the industry is
concerned, she’ll have her own
identity.
The totals are in: Anita Baker-
28, Mariah Carey-27, and Whit
ney Houston-23. Anita Baker is
the best vocalist on the planet
today. Of course this argument
can never be settled for real but I’d
like to think I did my part in help
ing to settle anybody’s dispute.
S &B
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