The Best Female Singer/Songwriters of All Time
The All-Time Best Vocal Performances by Women Singer/Songwriters
Who are the best female singer-songwriters of all time?
Women are obviously still discriminated against in many industries when
it comes to recognition, promotion and equal pay. But surely the music business
is more enlightened ... or is it? As I worked on a page of the best rock songs
of all time, I consulted the Rolling Stone list of 500 greatest songs
and several similar lists, and I came to the conclusion that
female singer/songwriters are still being shortchanged. Yes, a few songs by Carole King and Joni Mitchell
made the cut, but utterly stellar songs like "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez,
"Stoney End" by Laura Nyro,
"Thank You" by Dido, and "Love And Affection" by Joan Armatrading were nowhere to be
found. So I decided to create
my own list. I hope you'll agree with me that the songs below deserve
consideration for anyone's "best of" rankings. I can't agree with Rolling Stone
that pop-fizzy commercial successes are "greater" than the
best songs on this
page. The bios and song notes below were taken
primarily from the artists' Wikipedia pages, and I do not take credit for them.
After my TOP 25 female songwriters and honorable mentions there are links to a
number of great songs, and then there is an alphabetic listing with the Rolling
Stone ratings.
Who was America’s first female singer-songwriter? Peggy Lee entered the public
consciousness at a time when it was highly unusual for commercial singers to
write their own material. Born into a poor North Dakota family in 1920, Lee
began her career at a local radio station, where she sang in exchange for food.
She joined the Benny Goodman band in 1941 and had her first number one song in
1942 with "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place." She went on to collaborate on original songs with Duke Ellington and Quincy
Jones, but is best known today for her inventive cover versions. In 1958, Lee
had her biggest hit with her innovative cover of
Little Willie John's song "Fever" (her heavily rewritten lyrics are now more famous than
those of the original.) Lee later co-wrote the songs for Disney's The Lady and
the Tramp. She is also known for writing and performing classic songs like
"He's a Tramp," "Big Spender," "Mañana" and "Hallelujah I Love Him So." With her
extravagant blonde
hair and outspoken manner, "Miss Peggy" was reportedly the inspiration for Miss Piggy
of The Muppet Show!
Other contenders: Dorothy Fields (1905-1974) wrote or co-wrote 400 songs,
including the mega-hit "The Way You Look Tonight." The famous blues singer
Billie Holiday (1915-1959) wrote or co-wrote "God Bless the Child," "Lady Sings
the Blues," "Stormy Blues" and "Don't Explain." Irene Higginbotham (1918-1988)
wrote "Good Morning Heartache," recorded by Billie Holiday in 1946 and Diana
Ross in 1972. Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946) was the first woman to sell a
million copies of a song, with her popular 1901 parlor song "I Love You Truly."
Lil Hardin Armstrong (1898-1971), the wife of Louis Armstrong, wrote "Struttin'
with Some Barbecue," which has been featured in more than 500 jazz recordings.
But probably the first notable American female songwriter was Julia Ward Howe
(1819-1910), who wrote the famous lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
after meeting Abraham Lincoln in 1861. And indeed, that seems like a very good
place to start, since Howe opposed slavery and supported pacifism and women's
rights, including their right to vote. Howe was a poet, playwright, novelist,
songwriter, philosopher, editor, journalist, lecturer, preacher, reformer,
abolitionist, pacifist and women's right activist. Fluent in seven languages,
she founded the literary journal Northern Lights and was the founder
and longtime editor of Woman's Journal. Books she published included Sex
and Education (1874), Modern Society (1881) and Margaret
Fuller (1883), a biography of another female activist. She was instrumental
in creating Mother's Day. Howe was also the first woman to be inducted into the
American Academy of Arts and Letters, in 1908. After her death, George S.
Hellman called her "the most notable woman of letters born and bred in the
metropolis of America."
Songwriting Trivia:
Ironically, Carole King is the Queen of the American female songwriters!
Songwriting Trivia: Joni Mitchell, who famously wrote "Woodstock," infamously
did not bother to attend, opting instead to appear on The Dick Cavett Show!
This is my personal―and therefore admittedly subjective―top ten list of the
best female singer/songwriters, which I have expanded to a top twenty-five, then
to a top thirty. I have bolded my favorite songs
by each artist ...
(#30) Matraca Berg: Strawberry
Wine, Faking Love, The Last One to Know, Wild Angels, Everybody Knows, Wrong Side of Memphis, You and
Tequila
(#28) Dolores O'Riordan of the
Cranberries: Linger, Zombie, Dreams, When You're Gone, Promises, Salvation,
Yeats' Grave, Ode to My Family, Free to Decide
(#27)
Enya: Orinco Flow (Sail
Away), Only Time, Flora's Secret, If I Could Be Where
You Are, Book of Days, May It Be, Anywhere Is, Wild Child, Boadicea
(#26) Mariah Carey: Vision of
Love, Someday, Love Takes Time, I Don't Wanna Cry, One Sweet Day, Hero, Fantasy, Loverboy, Dreamlover, Without You
(#25)
Ellie Greenwich: River Deep Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner), Chapel of Love
(Dixie Cups and Elvis Presley), Leader of the Pack (Shangri-Las),
Then He Kissed Me (Crystals), Be My Baby (Ronettes), Da Doo Ron Ron (Crystals),
Sugar Sugar (The Archies), I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton-John)
Ellie Greenwich wrote songs with her husband Jeff Barry, with producer Phil Spector often pitching in, making it a threesome of sorts.
(#24) Janis Joplin: Mercedes Benz, Move Over, Kozmic Blues, Piece of My
Heart (arrangement), Down on Me (arrangement), Turtle Blues, I Need a
Man to Love, A Woman Left Lonely, Women is Losers, One Good Man, Hesitation
Blues
Erma Franklin, who recorded the original version of Piece of My Heart, said she
didn't recognize the song the first time she heard the Janis Joplin version
because the vocal arrangement had been changed so drastically.
(#23)
Madonna: This Used to be
My Playground, Papa Don't Preach, Like A Prayer, Take A Bow, Ray Of
Light, Cherish, Live To Tell, Vogue
(#22) Diane Warren: Un-Break My Heart (Toni Braxton),
Because You Loved Me (Celine Dion), If I Could Turn Back Time (Cher),
How Do I Live (LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood), I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
(Aerosmith), Rhythm of the Night (DeBarge)
(#21) Chrissie Hynde: Back on
the Chain Gang, Brass in Pocket, Don't Get Me Wrong, I'll Stand By You, 2000
Miles, Message of Love
(#20) Annie Lennox: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),
Why,
Walking On Broken Glass, Little
Bird, Here Comes The Rain Again, Would I Lie to You
(#19) Ann and Nancy Wilson of
Heart: Dog And Butterfly,
Dreamboat Annie, Straight
On, Barracuda, Crazy On You, Magic Man, Never, Heartless,Even It Up
(#18) Alanis Morissette: Uninvited,
Ironic, You Learn,
You Oughta Know, Hand In My Pocket, Thank U, Unsent, Hands Clean, Head Over Feet
(#17)
Sarah McLachlan: (In the Arms of an) Angel, I Will Remember You,
Adia, Building a Mystery, Sweet Surrender, Fallen, Possession, Stupid, U Want Me
2
(#16) Christine McVie: As Long As You Follow, The Chain, Songbird,
Don't Stop, Hold Me, Over My Head, Say You Love Me, Little Lies, Think About Me
(#15) Carly Simon:
That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be (We'll Marry), You're So Vain,
Let The River Run, Anticipation, You Belong To Me
(#14) Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time,
Change of Heart, Hatful Of Stars, Who Let In
The Rain, Good Enough, True Colors, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, She Bop
(#13)
Alicia Keys: Fallin', No One, If I Ain't Got You, Girl on Fire,
Impossible (Christina Aguilera), A Woman's Worth, Empire State of Mind, Unthinkable, Diary, You Don't Know
My Name
(#12) Dido: Thank You, White
Flag, Here With Me, Stan, If I Rise, Life For Rent, Sand In My Shoes, Hunter, End of Night,
Blackbird, Don't Leave Home
(#11) Sade: Smooth Operator, The Sweetest Taboo, Your Love Is King, No Ordinary Love, Soldier of Love, Kiss of Life, By Your Side
(#10)
Melanie Safka: Lay Down, Brand New Key,
What Have They Done To My Song Ma?, The Nickel Song, Ring The
Living Bell, Peace Will Come
(#9)
Pink/P!nk: Try, What About Us, Just Give Me a
Reason, Sober, Raise Your Glass, Get the Party Started, Who Knew, Fuckin'
Perfect, Just Like a Pill, So What
(#8)
Taylor Swift: All Too Well, Back to December, Blank Space, Wildest
Dreams, August, Enchanted, Style, Love Story, Cornelia Street,
Champagne Problems, Delicate, Clean, Ivy, Red, Maroon, 22, Lover, Cardigan, New
Romantics, Long Live, Mirrorball, Mean, I Knew You Were Trouble, Willow,
Anti-Hero, Marjorie
(#7)
Adele: Rumor Has It,
Someone Like You, Rolling In The Deep, Set Fire To The Rain,
Skyfall, Hello, Send My Love, Turning Tables, Chasing Pavements
Adele seems a bit needy and "stalker-ish" in some of her songs, dropping her a
bit in my ranking.
(#6)
Dolly Parton: Jolene, Eagle When She Flies, I Will
Always Love You, The Bargain Store, Two Doors Down, Love Is Like a
Butterfly, Coat Of Many Colors, 9 To 5, Romeo, Down from Dover, Here You Come
Again, Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You, Little Sparrow
(#5) Laura Nyro: Stoney End,
And When I Die, Eli's Comin', Wedding Bell
Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness, Time and Love, La La Means I Love
You
(#4) Joni Mitchell:
Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock, River, Help Me, Both Sides Now,
You Turn Me On (I'm a Radio), Free Man In Paris, Blue, Chelsea Morning,
California, Carey
(#3)
Stevie Nicks: Landslide, The Chain, Dreams, Gypsy, Gold Dust
Woman, Edge Of Seventeen, Leather And Lace, Sara, If Anyone Falls, Nightbird,
Stand Back, Rhiannon
(#2)
Carole King: Been To Canaan, You've Got a Friend, It's
Too Late, So Far Away, Up On The Roof,
A Natural Woman, I Feel The Earth Move, The Loco-Motion, One
Fine Day, Jazzman, Hi-De-Ho
(#1) Sappho of Lesbos: to see why the first great female lyricist is still the
best, so many centuries later, please click here: Sappho of Lesbos
NOTE: I did not have Dolores O'Riordan in my original top twenty-five. Fortunately
Michael Norman pointed out my grievous error, which has since been corrected. In
my defense, while I long been a fan of those great Cranberries songs, I was not
aware that she had written them. And for some inexplicable reason she didn't
show up in some of the articles I used during my initial research into the
subject. We must give Dolores her due!
Carole King is the seventh greatest songwriter of all time, according to Rolling
Stone magazine, in partnership with Gerry Goffin. Joni Mitchell is ninth on the
same list. Also included in the Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of all
time were Felice Bryant (#89), Bjork (#81), Missy Elliott (#96), Ellie Greenwich
(#18), Chrissie Hynde (#63), Loretta Lynn (#76), Madonna (#56), Stevie Nicks
(#53), Dolly Parton (#30), Valerie Simpson (#83), Patti Smith (#74), Taylor
Swift (#97), Cynthia Weil (#88) and Lucinda Williams (#79).
How good was Stevie Nicks as a songwriter, really? Pretty damn good. According
to Ranker, eight of the ten most popular Fleetwood Mac songs were written by
Stevie Nicks: Rhiannon (#1), The Chain (#2), Landslide (#3), Dreams (#5), Sara
(#6), Seven Wonders (#7), Gold Dust Woman (#9) and Gypsy (#10).
High Honorable Mentions:
Christina Aguilera: Hurt, Miss Independent (with Kelly
Clarkson), Dirrty, Fighter, Candyman
Lily Allen: Fuck You, Smile, Not Fair, The Fear, Alfie, Hard Out Here, Trigger
Bang
Tori Amos: Silent All
These Years, Crucify, Cornflake Girl, Winter, Carry, Spark, God, A Sorta
Fairytale
Joan Armatrading: Love
and Affection, Save Me, In These Times, Down to Zero, The Weakness in Me
Bjork: Army of Me, Human Behavior, Bedtime Story, Big Time Sensuality, All Is
Full of Love, It's Oh So Quiet, Bachelorette, Birthday, Hyperballad
Felice Bryant: Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie (Everly Brothers), Rocky
Top (the University of Tennessee fight song and state song)
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant are considered to be the first songwriters to
relocate to Nashville specifically to write songs. Their first hit song was
"Country Boy," recorded by Little Jimmy Dickens, which became a top ten country
song in 1949.
Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill, Don't Give Up, Wuthering Heights, Hounds of
Love, King of the Mountain, Rubberband Girl, Babooshka
Tracy Chapman: Fast Car,
Give Me One Reason, Talkin' Bout a Revolution, For My Lover, Baby Can I Hold You
Patsy Cline: Don't Ever Leave Me Again
Sheryl Crow: All I Wanna
Do, If It Makes You Happy, My Favorite Mistake, Soak Up the Sun, A Change Would
Do You Good
Ester Dean: Countdown (Beyonce), Firework (Katy Perry), Super Bass (Nicki Minaj),
Come and Get It (Selena Gomez), Hey Mama (David Guetta)
Jackie DeShannon: Bette Davis Eyes (Kim Carnes, 1982 Grammy), When You Walk in
the Room (The Searchers, Pam Tillis), Put a Little Love in Your Heart (recorded
herself), Dum Dum (Brenda Lee), Breakaway (Irma Thomas, Tracey Ullman), Come and
Stay with Me (Marianne Faithful, Cher)
Missy Elliott: Borderline (Ariana Grande), 1,2 Step (Ciara), Need U Bad (Jazmine
Sullivan), The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly), Work It, Lose Control, Hot Boyz, She's
a Bitch, Get Ur Freak On, Pass That Dutch, One Minute Man, WTF
Missy Elliot wrote songs with Timbaland (Timothy Zachery Mosley).
Aretha Franklin: Think (Freedom), Spanish Harlem (revised
"blacker" lyrics), Call Me, Rock Steady, Who's Zoomin' Who
Diana Gordon: Sorry (Beyonce)
Debby Harry: Heart of
Glass, Rapture, One Way or Another, Atomic, Eat to the Beat, Dreaming, Call Me,
The Tide Is High
Brittany Hazzard aka Starrah: Havana (Camila Cabello), Wasted Times (The Weeknd),
Girls Like You (Maroon 5), Needed Me (Rihanna)
Keri Hilson: Wait a Minute (Pussycat Dolls), Runaway Love (Ludacris), Scream (Timbaland)
Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child, Lady Sings the Blues,
Stormy Blues, Don't Explain, Now or Never, Billie's Blues
Janis Ian: At Seventeen,
Society's Child, Jesse, What About the Love, Fly Too High, Stars, Love Is Blind,
Hair of Spun Gold
Etta James: Something's Got a Hold on Me, If I Can't Have You (with Harvey
Fuqua), Tough Lover
Lady Gaga: (I Was) Born
This Way, Poker Face, Paparazzi, Edge of Glory, Alejandro, You and I, Monster,
Just Dance, Applause
Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter, You Ain't Woman Enough (to Take My Man),
The Pill, Rated X, What Kind of Girl (Do You Think I Am)
Andrea Martin: Don't Let Go (En Vogue), You're the One (SWV), I Love Me Some Him
(Toni Braxton)
Julia Michaels: Issues, Uh Huh, Heaven, Sorry and Friends (Justin Bieber), Run
(Nicole Scherzinger), Heavy (Linkin Park), Papercut (Zedd), Bad Liar and Good
for You and Hands to Myself (Selena Gomez), Misery, Dive (Ed Sheeran), Slumber
Party (Britney Spears), War Paint (Kelly Clarkson), Close (Nick Jonas), Hurts So
Good (Astrid S), Fire Starter (Demi Lovato), Poison (Rita Ora), War and Used to
Love You (Gwen Stefani), Miss Movin' On and All in My Head (Fifth Harmony), Love
Myself and Rock Bottom (Hailee Steinfeld), One Mississippi (Zara Larsson)
Victoria Monet: Be Alright and Thank U, Next (both Ariana Grande)
Sylvia Moy: Uptight
(Everything's Alright), My Cherie Amour, I Was Made to Love Her, It Takes Two,
Honey Chile, Here Comes Fat Albert
Sylvia Moy was one of the first black female songwriters of note. She was the
first female songwriter at Motown and took a young Stevie Wonder under her wing,
helping make him a star with Uptight (Everything's Alright).
Tayla Parx: High Hopes (Panic! at the Disco)
Katy Perry: Wide Awake,
E.T., Firework, I Kissed A Girl, California Gurls, The One That Got Away,
Teenage Dream, Roar, Part Of Me
Liz Phair: Supernova,
Flower, Never Said, Whip-Smart, Why Can't I?
Makeba Riddick-Woods: Disturbia (Rihanna), Rude Boy(Rihanna), Dj Vu (Beyonce),
Won't He Do It (Koryn Hawthorne)
Minnie Ripperton, the Queen of the Whistle Register, wrote the mega-hit "Lovin'
You."
Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam, Four Women, Revolution, To Be Young Gifted and
Black, Go Limp, Get By, I Deserve It
Valerie Simpson: Solid (as a Rock), You're All I Need, Ain't No Mountain
High Enough, Your Precious Love, I'm Every Woman
Valerie Simpson wrote songs with her husband Nick Ashford.
Patti Smith: Gloria, Horses, People Have the Power, Because the Night (written
with Bruce Springsteen), Free Money, Dancing Barefoot
Britney Spears: Everytime, Someday (I Will Understand), Work Bitch, Perfume,
Make Me
Shania Twain: Any Man of Mine, You're Still the One, Man! I Feel Like a Woman,
That Don't Impress Me Much, From This Moment On
Donna Summer: On the Radio, I Feel Love, Bad Girls, She Works
Hard for the Money, Love to Love You Baby
Tina Turner: Nutbush City Limits, Black Coffee (Humble Pie), Up in Heah, Sexy
Ida, Baby Get It On, Sweet Rhode Island Red
Cynthia Weil: On Broadway (Drifters), Uptown (Crystals), We Gotta Get Out of the
Place (Animals), You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (Righteous Brothers)
Cynthia Weil wrote songs with her husband, Barry Mann.
Carla Marie Williams: Freedom (Beyonce), Not Giving
Up (The Saturdays), Glory (Britney Spears)
Lucinda Williams: Passionate Kisses, The Night's Too Long, Blue, Protection,
Crescent City, Joy, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Amy Winehouse: Rehab, Back to Black, You Know I'm No Good, Tears Dry on Their
Own, Stronger Than Me, Love is a Losing Game
I included Sappho because her poems were sung to the music of a
lyre: hence the term "lyric" poet. Critics of her era were in
awe of her ... so much so that she was called the Tenth Muse (the other nine
were gods). Great poets like Lord Byron, T. S. Eliot, A. E. Housman, Percy
Bysshe Shelley and William Butler Yeats either translated her poems, or wrote
similar poems after her style. Sappho's erotic
poetry gave our words "lesbian" and "sapphic" their modern denotations and
connotations. She was the first superstar of both poetry and popular
music, and the mother not only of the female songwriters above, but of male
songwriters like Bob Dylan and John Lennon, and their heirs.
I gave Carole King very high marks for the long list of classic hit songs that
she wrote. Laura Nyro, Melanie Safka and Janis Joplin get very high marks for
their originality, vocals, soul and style. Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper and Dido
are extremely talented poets. Alanis Morissette and Annie Lennox are great
writers, and Lennox is one of the greatest performers of modern times. Mariah
Carey has such an amazing voice that it's easy to forget that she has written
some amazing songs as well. I will say that I don't think Carey's songwriting
has improved with time, however. I'm not a huge fan of Joni Mitchell's singing;
she reminds me of Bob Dylan, who was more of a poet than a singer. But every
woman on this list has a huge following, so there are no losers, only winners.
And of course other fans will rank the artists in a different order than I did,
and that's as it should be.
The 25 Best Songs Written by Women (in one man's opinion, for whatever it's
worth):
(25)
June Carter Cash: Ring of Fire (a hit for her superstar husband, Johnny Cash)
(24)
Roseanne Cash: Seven Year Ache (Roseanne is the daughter of Johnny Cash and the
stepdaughter of June Carter Cash)
(23) Matraca Berg:
Strawberry Wine (co-written
with Gary Harrison)
Lulu: I Don't Want to Fight (a hit for Tina
Turner)
(22) Katy Perry: Wide Awake
(21) Lady Gaga: Poker Face
(20)
Carole King: Been To Canaan
(19)
Christine McVie: As Long As You Follow
(18)
Ann and Nancy Wilson: Dog And Butterfly
(17) Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi (They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking
Lot)
(16)
Melanie Safka: Lay Down (Candle in the Rain)
(15)
Adele: Someone Like You, Rolling in the Deep, Set Fire to the Rain, Rumor Has It
(take your pick)
(14)
Alanis Morissette: Uninvited
(13)
Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time
(12)
Fiona Apple: Criminal
(11)
Patti Smith: Because the Night (co-written with Bruce Springsteen)
(10)
Dido: Thank You, White Flag (tie)
(9)
Martina McBride: Independence Day
(8)
Joan Baez: Diamonds and Rust (rumored to have been written for Bob Dylan)
(7)
Stevie Nicks: Landslide
(6)
Annie Lennox: Why
(5)
Sarah McLachlan: Angel
(4)
Janice Ian: At Seventeen
(3)
Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child
Laura Nyro: Stoney End
(2)
Joan Armatrading: Love and Affection
(1)
Carly Simon: That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be (We'll Marry)
Honorable Mention:
Carole King: It's Too Late, You've Got a Friend, So Far Away, I Feel the Earth
Move
Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now, Woodstock
Tina Turner: Nutbush City Limits
Madonna: Like a Prayer, This Used To Be My Playground
Sade: The Sweetest Taboo
Tracy Chapman: Fast Car
Dolly Parton: I Will Always Love You, Jolene
Grace Slick: Somebody To Love, White Rabbit
Valerie Simpson (with Nick Ashford): Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, I’m Every
Woman
Chrissie Hynde: Brass in Pocket
Natalie Merchant: Carnival
Mariah Carey: Vision of Love, Love Takes Time, Someday
Melissa Etheridge: Come to My Window
Norah Jones: Sunrise, What Am I to You?, Chasing Pirates
Aretha Franklin: Think (Freedom)
Whitney Houston: Queen of the Night
Kelly Clarkson: Miss Independent, Piece By Piece, Because of You
Helen Reddy: I Am Woman
K. T. Tunstall: Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Robyn: Dancing on My Own
Rihanna: Love on the Brain
Judy Collins: Albatross, Since You've Asked, Lily of the Valley
Avril Levigne: Complicated, Sk8er Boi (Skater Boy), When You're Gone
Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Grammy Songs of the Year Written By Female Songwriters
Carole King "You've Got a Friend" (1972)
Barbra Streisand "Evergreen" (1978) with Paul Williams and Joe Brooks
Donna Weiss "Bette Davis Eyes" (1982) with Jackie DeShannon
Carole Bayer Sager "That's What Friends Are For" (1987) with Burt Bacharach
Cynthia Weil "Somewhere Out There" (1988) with James Horner and Barry Mann
Julie Gold "From a Distance" (1989)
Alicia Keys "Fallin'" (2002)
Emily Robinson "Not Ready to Make Nice" (2007) with Martie Maguire, Natalie
Maines and Dan Wilson
Amy Winehouse "Rehab" (2008)
Beyonce Knowles "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2010) with three other
songwriters
Hillary Scott "Need You Now" (2011) with three other songwriters
Adele Adkins "Rolling in the Deep" (2012) with Paul Epworth
Lorde "Royals" (2014) with Joel Little
Amy Wadge "Thinking Out Loud" (2016) with Ed Sheeran
Janis Joplin
Down On Me
traditional folk song
vocal arrangement and altered lyrics by Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin took the traditional 1930s folk song "Down On Me," rearranged the music
and altered the lyrics, giving it a totally new "feel."
Heart
Straight On
music and lyrics by Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart comprise a blockbuster songwriting team. "Straight
On" (above) is a hard-charging rock song. But "Dog and Butterfly" (below) is one
of the most tender and whimsical songs ever to hit the charts. And of course it
doesn't hurt that Nancy Wilson is a stunningly good vocalist in almost any mode.
Heart
Dog And Butterfly
music and lyrics by Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson
Annie Lennox
Walking On Broken Glass
Annie Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish recording artist and one
half of the duo Eurythmics. Lennox
penned some of the band's best-known tracks, including "Sweet Dreams (Are Made
of This)" and "Here Comes the Rain Again."
In the 1990s, Lennox embarked on a solo career beginning
with her debut album Diva (1992), which produced several hit singles including
"Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass." She is the recipient of eight BRIT Awards,
more than any other female artist. In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and
the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West", written for the
soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
In addition to her career as a musician, Lennox is also
a political and social activist, notable for raising money and awareness for HIV
charities in Africa. She also objected to the unauthorized use of the 1999
Eurythmics song "I Saved the World Today" in an election broadcast for Israeli
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Known as a pop culture icon for her distinctive
contralto vocals and visual performances, Lennox has been named "The Greatest
White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
by Rolling Stone. She has earned the distinction of "most successful female
British artist in UK music history." Including her work within Eurythmics,
Lennox is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 80
million records worldwide.
Enya
Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)
Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin on 17 May 1961), is an Irish singer,
instrumentalist and composer. The media sometimes refer to her by the Anglicized
name, Enya Brennan. She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her
family band Clannad, before leaving to perform solo. She gained wider
recognition for her music in the 1986 BBC series The Celts. Shortly afterwards,
her 1988 album Watermark propelled her to further international fame and she
became known for her unique sound, characterized by voice-layering, folk
melodies, synthesised backdrops and ethereal reverberations. Her atmospheric
vocals on the song below are the best I've heard in my 52 years on this planet.
Enya
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
(a traditional Christmas carol sung by Enya)
Sade
The Sweetest Taboo
Helen Folasade Adu (born 16 January 1959), better known as Sade, is a
British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. Sade was born in Ibadan, Oyo State,
Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means "honor confers your crown." When Sade was 11, she moved to live at Holland-on-Sea with her
mother, and after completing school at 18 she moved to London and studied at the
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. While at college, she joined a
soul band, Pride, in which she sang backing vocals. Her solo performances of the
song "Smooth Operator" attracted the attention of record companies and in 1983,
she signed a solo deal with Epic Records, taking three members of the band with her. Sade and her band
produced the first of a string of hit albums, the debut album Diamond Life, in
1984, and have subsequently sold over 50 million albums. She is the most
successful solo female artist in British history.
Sade
No Ordinary Love
Sade
Your Love Is King
Fiona Apple
Criminal
Fiona Apple McAfee Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American
singer-songwriter. Born in New York City, Apple is the daughter of singer Diane
McAfee and actor Brandon Maggart. Apple was introduced to the music industry in
1994 when she gave a demo tape to a friend who was the babysitter of music
publicist Kathryn Schenker. Schenker then passed the tape along to Sony Music
executive Andy Slater. Apple's contralto voice, piano skills and lyrics captured
his attention, and Slater signed her to a record deal. In 1996, Apple's debut
album, Tidal, received a Grammy. The album sold 2.7 million copies and was
certified three times platinum in the U.S. "Criminal", the third single, became
a hit and the song reached the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The
song's controversial Mark Romanek-directed music video — in which a
scantily-clad Apple appeared in a '70s-era tract house — played on MTV. Apple
later said: "I decided if I was going to be exploited, then I would do the
exploiting myself."
Melanie
Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947) is an American
singer-songwriter. Usually known professionally as Melanie, she is best known
for her hits "Brand New Key" and "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)." Melanie made
her first public appearance at age four on the radio show Live Like A
Millionaire. She was a student at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts
when she began singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village and signed her
first recording contract. Her debut album received rave reviews. In 1969,
Melanie had a hit in the Netherlands with "Beautiful People" before performing
at Woodstock. The inspiration for her signature song, "Lay Down," apparently
arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set. "Lay Down"
peaked at #6 on the Billboard singles chart and achieved worldwide success.
Later hits included "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and a cover of the
Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday." In 1971 Melanie formed her own label,
Neighborhood Records and had her biggest American hit: the number one smash
"Brand New Key" (often called "The Roller Skate Song"). "Brand New Key" sold
over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie "Boogie
Nights." When first released, "Brand New Key" was banned by some radio stations
because of possible sexual innuendo in the lyrics: "I got a brand new pair of
roller skates, / You got a brand new key. / I think that we should get together
and try them out, to see..."
The follow-up single to "Brand New Key" was "Ring the Living Bell" and it made
Melanie the first female performer to have three concurrent Top 40 hits. She was awarded Billboard's #1 Top Female Vocalist
for 1972.
Christine McVie
Songbird
Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect, 12 July 1943, near Greenodd,
Cumbria) is an English rock singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary
fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, although
she has also released three solo albums. After
marrying Fleetwood Mac bass guitarist John McVie, she joined the band in 1970.
She quickly became an essential member of
the group and the author of some of its finest songs, a position she would
continue to hold for nearly 25 years. In 1974, the
band moved to the US to make a fresh start and within a year Stevie Nicks and Lindsey
Buckingham joined the group. Their first album together, 1975's Fleetwood Mac,
had several hit songs, including McVie's "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me." It was "Over My Head" which first put Fleetwood Mac on
American radio and in Billboard's Top 20. In 1976, McVie began an
affair with the band's lighting director, which
inspired her to write "You Make Loving Fun," a top-10 hit on
Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all-time. Her biggest hit was "Don't
Stop", which climbed all the way to number 3. The Rumours tour also included
Christine's "Songbird," a ballad played as the encore of many Fleetwood Mac
concerts.
Stevie Nicks
Landslide
Stevie
Nicks, like Christine McVie a member of Fleetwood Mac, said that she wrote this song while she was contemplating going back
to school or continuing her relationship with Fleetwood Mac guitarist/singer/songwriter Lindsey Buckingham. Buckingham and
Nicks had been dropped by Polydor Records and she and Buckingham were not
getting along. She wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado sitting in
someone's living room and "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the
avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my
life truly felt like a landslide in many ways.
Stevie Nicks
Go Your Own Way
written
by Lindsey Buckingham
(performed by Fleetwood Mac)
Buckingham wrote this song for (or directed it at) Stevie Nicks, after their romantic relationship
ended. The song describes their breakup, with the
most obvious line being, "Packing up, shacking up is all you want to do." Nicks
insisted she never shacked up with anyone when they were together, and wanted
Buckingham to remove or change the line, but he refused.
Sinéad O'Connor
Nothing Compares 2 U
written by Prince
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor (born 8 December 1966) is an Irish
singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The
Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the
song "Nothing Compares 2 U."
Since then, she has regularly courted controversy with
her outspokenness, shorn head, and views on religion, women's rights, war and
her own sexuality, while still maintaining a singing career. Her body of work
includes a number of collaborations with other artists and appearances at
charity fundraising concerts, in addition to her own solo albums.
Patti Smith
Because The Night
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American
singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential
component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album
Horses. Called the "Godmother of Punk," her work was a fusion of rock and
poetry. Smith's most widely known song is "Because the Night", which was
co-written with Bruce Springsteen and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart in 1978. In 2007 she was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Born
Patricia Lee Smith, she spent was raised as a
Jehovah's Witness. She had a strong religious upbringing and a Bible education,
but left organized religion as a teenager because she felt it was too confining;
much later, she wrote the line "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" in
her cover version of Them's "Gloria."
June Carter Cash
Ring of Fire
June Valerie Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was a singer, dancer,
songwriter, actress, comedienne and author who was a member of the Carter Family
and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo,
harmonica, and autoharp and acted in several films and television shows. "Ring of Fire" is a country music song co-written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore.
Some sources claim that June Carter had seen the phrase, "Love is like a burning ring
of fire," underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter's Elizabethan books of
poetry. The song was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter as
"(Love's) Ring of Fire". After hearing Anita's version, Cash
claimed he had a dream in which he heard the song accompanied by "Mexican horns."
Cash allowed some time for Anita's song to catch on, stating: "I'll give you
about five or six more months, and if you don't hit with it, I'm gonna record it
the way I feel it." When the song failed to become a major hit for her, Cash
recorded the song with mariachi-style horns. It became the biggest hit of his
career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks. It's ironic that
Johnny Cash is best known for two songs: "I Walk the Line" (in which he promised
to be faithful to his first wife) and "Ring of Fire" (a song penned by his
mistress).
Cyndi Lauper
Time After Time
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer,
songwriter and actress. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release
of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four
top-five singles from one album. Lauper has released 11 albums and over 40
singles, and has sold more than 30 million records worldwide. Lauper was born
and raised in New York City. At age twelve, she learned to play an acoustic guitar,
which her sister had given her, and started to write her own lyrics. At age
seventeen, she left home, to study art.
In 1978, Lauper met
saxophone player John Turi and formed a band called Blue Angel. A few demos were
recorded and the tape found its way to Steve Massarsky, who said the tape was horrible, but
that he was
attracted to Lauper's voice. Music critics
who saw Lauper perform with Blue Angel thought she had star potential
because she had a wide singing range (four octaves), perfect pitch, and a unique vocal
style. In 1981, Lauper met
David Wolff, who took over as her manager and signed her with Portrait Records. Wolff had been working with a band called Arc Angel.
In 1983, Lauper's album She's So Unusual was released and became a worldwide
hit. Lauper became popular with
teenagers and critics, in part due to her hybrid punk image. The album's second
single was the ballad "Time After Time," which Lauper co-wrote with Rob Hyman when her producer suggested that the album could use one more song. The
record label did not have much faith in Lauper as a songwriter, but "Time After
Time" hit #1 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, and the
song has
been covered by more than 100 artists.
Carly Simon
That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (We'll Marry)
Carly
Simon was born in New York City. Her father,
of Jewish descent, was Richard L. Simon (co-founder of Simon & Schuster), a
pianist who often played Chopin and Beethoven at home. Her mother was Andrea
Louise Simon (née Heinemann), a civil rights activist and singer of black and
German descent.
Her solo music career began in 1971, with the
self-titled album Carly Simon on Elektra Records. The album contained her breakthrough
top-ten hit "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be." It was followed
quickly by a second album, Anticipation. The title song from that album, written
about a romance between Simon and Cat Stevens, was a significant hit, reaching
#3 at Easy Listening radio and #13 on Billboard's Hot 100. The next single
release - also reportedly written about Stevens - was "Legend In Your Own Time"
which failed to make much of an impact on the charts. After their brief
liaison during 1970–1971 ended amicably, Stevens wrote his song "Sweet Scarlet"
about Simon, who also had highly publicized relationships with Warren Beatty,
Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor during this period.
In 1973 Simon scored the biggest success of her career
with the classic global smash "You're So Vain." It hit #1 on the U.S. Pop and
Adult Contemporary charts and sold over a million copies in the United States
alone. It was one of the decade's biggest hits and propelled Simon's
breakthrough album No Secrets to #1 on the U.S. album charts, where it stayed
for six consecutive weeks. "You're
So Vain" received Grammy Award nominations for Record Of The Year, Song Of The
Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.
The subject of the song itself has become one of the
biggest enigmas in popular music, as this track also carries one of the most
famous lyrics: "You're so vain/I bet you think this song is about you." Simon
has never publicly admitted who the song is about. She hinted that it could be a
composite of several people, and for many people the most likely "suspects" have
always been Beatty or Jagger (who sings backup vocals on the recording). Simon
has given vague hints over the decades to a variety of talk shows and
publications, saying that riddles wouldn't be interesting if everyone knew the
answers to them. In 2003 she auctioned off the information
to the winner of a charity function, with the
condition that the winner (television executive Dick Ebersol) not reveal the
answer.
Dido
Thank You, White Flag, Here With Me
Dido, nee Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong (born 25 December 1971),
is an English singer-songwriter. Following the sampling of her single "Thank
You" on Eminem's 2000 hit "Stan," Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut
album, No Angel (1999). The album sold in excess of 21 million copies
worldwide, and won several awards; including the MTV Europe Music Award for
Best New Act, two NRJ Awards for Best New Act and Best Album, and two BRIT
Awards for Best British Female and Best Album. Her following album, Life for
Rent (2003), continued her mainstream success with the help of popular singles
"White Flag" and "Life for Rent." The album went on to sell around 12 million
copies worldwide and saw her receive more accolades; including the Ivor Novello
Award for Songwriter of the Year for "White Flag", two further BRIT and NRJ
Awards, as well as a Grammy Award nomination. Her third and latest studio album,
Safe Trip Home (2008), received critical praise to help maintain her success.
Dido has been ranked #98 of Billboard 200 Artists Music Chart based on the
success of her music in the first decade of the 21st century. She has sold over
6 million albums in United States, and 32 million albums worldwide, establishing herself as one of the best-selling
artists of her time.
Joan Baez
Diamonds And Rust
Joan Baez is one of the foremost American folksingers. She writes much of her
own material although some of her best-known songs, such as "The Night They
Drove Ole Dixie Down" were written and first performed by other artists. Among
the songs she wrote and performed herself, my favorite song by far is "Diamonds
and Rust," a song that has been said to be about Bob Dylan.
Janis Ian
At Seventeen
Janis Eddy Fink (aka Janis Ian) was born to a Jewish family in New York City on
April 7, 1951. Her parents ran a summer camp in upstate New York and during the Cold War era were frequently under government surveillance because of
their left-wing politics. Young Janis Fink admired the work of folk pioneers
like Joan
Baez and Odetta. At the age of twelve she wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun
Gold," which appeared on her debut album. At age thirteen, she legally changed her
name to Janis Ian, using her brother Eric's middle name as her new last name.
Also at age thirteen, Ian wrote and sang her first hit
single, "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)," about an interracial
romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers:
the girl ultimately decides to end the relationship, citing the societal norms
of the day. "Society's Child" finally became a national hit on its third
release, after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a TV special titled Inside Pop:
The Rock Revolution. The song's message
was taboo for some radio stations, which refused to air it. In her autobiography Society's Child, Ian recalls
receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song, and mentions
a radio station in Atlanta being burned down for playing it. And yet "Society's
Child" reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. Her album was also a hit,
reaching #12. In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of
Fame, which honors recordings considered timeless and important to music
history.
Her most successful single in the United States was "At
Seventeen", which was
acclaimed by critics and record buyers alike: it charted at #3 on the Billboard
Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. "At Seventeen" also won the 1975 Grammy Award
for Best Pop Vocal Performance
Janis Ian
Society's Child
Carole King
Been To Canaan
Carol Klein (she added the "e" to her first name)
was born in 1942 to a Jewish household in Manhattan, New York. She grew up in Brooklyn
and started out playing piano, then moved on to singing, forming a vocal quartet
called the Co-Sines at James Madison High School. As a teenager who dreamed of
having a successful entertainment career, she decided to give herself a new last
name, picking "King" from the telephone book. She attended Queens College,
where she was a classmate and girlfriend of Neil Sedaka and inspired Sedaka's
first hit, "Oh! Carol." She responded with "Oh! Neil" and "Will You Love Me
Tomorrow." At Queens College, she also befriended Paul Simon and Gerry Goffin.
King and
Goffin formed a songwriting partnership; their first big hit was
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow," recorded by The Shirelles, which topped the
American charts in 1961, becoming the first #1 hit by a girl group.
Goffin and King married in 1960 and went on to write a number of chart-topping
hits together. They divorced in 1968 and King went on to write and record
chart-topping songs like "It's Too Late" (#1), I Feel the Earth Move", "Jazzman"
and "So Far Away." Counting song of hers recorded herself by other artists, King
has had over 100 songs on the Billboard charts, and seven number one songs.
Angel
Sarah McLachlan
"Angel" is a song by Sarah McLachlan that originally appeared on her 1997 album
Surfacing. As McLachlan explained on VH1 Storytellers, the song is about the
Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed on
heroin and died in 1996. McLachlan explained that there's nothing constant when
you are on the road; everything becomes the same. McLachlan said that writing
"Angel" was easy, "a real
joyous occasion." It was inspired by articles that she read in Rolling Stone
about musicians turning to heroin to cope with the pressures of the music
industry and subsequently overdosing. She said that she identified with
the feelings that might lead someone to use heroin: "I've been in that place
where you're so fucked up and you're so lost that you don't know who you are
anymore, and you're miserable—and here's this escape route. I've never done
heroin, but I've done plenty of other things to escape." She said that the song
is about "trying not to take responsibility for other people's shit and trying
to love yourself at the same time."
Martina McBride
Independence Day
written
by Gretchen Peters
performed by Martina McBride
"Independence Day" is a song performed by country singer Martina McBride,
originally included on her 1993 album The Way That I Am. Released as a single in
1994, the song peaked at #12. Gretchen Peters wrote the song, and later
recorded it herself. It was first offered to Reba McEntire, who turned it
down. The lyrics tell a story of a woman's response to domestic abuse, seen
from the point of view of her daughter. The song's music video was somewhat
controversial at the time of its release, because of its graphic depiction of
domestic violence. The ending of the video is particularly intense, as it shows
the young girl's home burning to the ground, implying that the mother had been
responsible for the fire, and that the mother and the abusive father both
perished in the fire. The girl is at Fourth of July parade when she gets a feeling
that something is wrong and returns home. The home is engulfed in flames by the
time she gets back, and she is shown towards the end of the video crying in the
front seat of a police cruiser.
The lyrics have a double meaning in that the woman in
the story is finally gaining her "freedom" from her abusive husband. Thus, it is
her "Independence Day." The title also refers to the fact that the events noted
in the song happened on the United States' Independence Day. Martina
McBride (born Martina Mariea Schiff on July 29, 1966, in Sharon, Kansas) is an
American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the
"Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range.
Strawberry Wine
written
by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison
performed by Deana Carter
"Strawberry Wine" is the title of a song written by Matraca Berg and Gary
Harrison, and recorded by American country artist Deana Carter.
The song tells the story of co-writer Berg's own coming of age as a teenager
outside of Luck, Wisconsin, she recalled: "We used to go to my grandparents'
dairy farm in the summer. My aunt, who's six months younger than me, and I would
try to score some wine. And I met this boy..." Berg shopped the song to
record labels around Nashville, but they passed, considering it overly long and
controversial, and not memorable enough. Deana Carter heard Berg perform the
song at a showcase and then recorded it for her debut album, Did I Shave My Legs
for This
"Strawberry Wine" debuted at #70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles &
Tracks for the chart week of August 17, 1996. The song reached #1 on
the chart in November 1996, holding the position for two weeks.
"Strawberry Wine" won Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards
in 1997 and was voted Song of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association
International and the Nashville Music Awards. That year, the song was also
nominated for three additional awards; Grammy Award for Best Country Song,
Academy of Country Music Awards Best Country Song nominee, and Country Music
Radio Awards for Song of The Year.
Female singer-songwriters of note, in alphabetical order, with the Rolling Stone
top 100 rating, for whatever it's worth ...
Adele
Lily Allen
Tori Amos
Fiona Apple
India Arie
Joan Armatrading
Ólöf Arnalds
Erykah Badu
Joan Baez
Selda Bağcan
Matraca Berg
Beyonce Bjork (#81) Felice Bryant (#89)
Kate Bush
Camille
Mariah Carey
June Carter Cash
Roseanne Cash
Beth Nielsen Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Céu (Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças)
Kelly Clarkson
Patsy Cline
Paula Cole
Judy Collins
Shawn Colvin
Sheryl Crow
Ester Dean
Jackie DeShannon
Dido
Ani DiFranco
Iris Dement
Sandy Denny
Sa Dingding
Celine Dion
Holly Dunn Missy Elliott (#96)
Enya
Melissa Ethridge
Dorothy Fields
Roberta Flack
Aretha Franklin
Lady Gaga
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Debbie Gibson
Diana Gordon Ellie Greenwich (#18)
Patty Griffin
Meklit Hadero
Emmylou Harris
Debbie Harry (of Blondie)
P. J. Harvey
Brittany Hazzard aka Starrah
Lauryn Hill
Keri Hilson
Billie Holiday
Whitney Houston Chrissie Hynde (of the Pretenders) (#63)
Janis Ian
Joan Jett
Jewel
Norah Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Janis Joplin
Annie Lennox
Alicia Keys
Alison Krauss Carole King (#7)
Holly Knight
Beyonce Knowles
Alison Krauss
Miranda Lambert
K. D. Lang
Cyndi Lauper
Peggy Lee
Avril Levigne
Abbey Lincoln
Lisa Loeb
Lorde
Courtney Love Loretta Lynn (#76) Lulu
Kirsty MacColl Madonna (#56) Aimee Mann
Mariza
Laura Marling
Andrea Martin
Martina McBride
Rose Marie McCoy
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Sarah McLachlan
Reba McEntire
Christine McVie
Natalie Merchant
Julia Michaels Joni Mitchell (#9)
Victoria Monet
Alanis Morissette
Sylvia Moy
Nena Stevie Nicks (#53)
Nico (Christa Paffgen)
Laura Nyro
Sinéad O'Connor
Odetta
Yoko Ono
Beth Orton Dolly Parton (#30)
Tayla Parx
Katy Perry
Linda Perry
Gretchen Peters
Pink (aka P!nk)
Liz Phair
Edith Piaf
Cat Power
Dory Previn
Bonnie Raitt
Susheela Raman
Helen Reddy
Makeba Riddick-Woods
Rihanna
Minnie Ripperton, the Queen of the Whistle Register,
Jeanie C. Riley
Sade
Melanie Safka
Carol Bayer Sager
Sappho of Lesbos
Jill Scott
Jean Shephard
Judee Sill Valerie Simpson (#83) Carly Simon
Nina Simone
Siouxsie Sioux Patti Smith (#74) Phoebe Snow
Britney Spears
Regina Spektor
Gwen Stefani
Barbra Streisand
Donna Summer Taylor Swift (#97) with a bullet
Rokia Traoré
K. T. Tunstall
Shania Twain
Suzanne Vega
Diane Warren Cynthia Weil (#88)
Gillian Welch
Edna White
Carla Marie Williams
Dar Williams Lucinda Williams (#79)
Ann Wilson and
Nancy Wilson (sisters and members of Heart)
Cassandra Wilson
Amy Winehouse
Wunmi
Tammy Wynette