Two of Yonkers greatest singers of all time were recognized in Rolling Stone magazines 200 Best Singers of All Time. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/
Mary J. Blige reached #25 in the rankings, while Ella Fitzgerald came in at #45.
#25-Growing up, Mary J. Blige turned to singing as an escape, and early on she often wrestled her demons in performance. “There would be times where she would be in the studio singing and it would be the dopest take in the world, but she would be crying,” producer Chucky Thompson recalled of working on Blige’s second album, My Life. But the singer took a firmer grip on her life and career, and her singing gained in turn — the deep emotion intact, the pitchiness eliminated. Most of all, the character — someone who’s been through it and refuses to give up. —M.M.
45-Voices change — that’s what aging does. But although Ella Fitzgerald’s style deepened — her voice gained in character and her phrasing in perception — her voice itself generated the illusion of youthfulness for decades, all the way to her sixties. What a run! Fitzgerald’s famously precise enunciation was right there from her first recording, 1938’s “A-Tisket — A-Tasket,” with Chick Webb’s orchestra. But if rock-raised ears may find Fitzgerald’s portrait-painter precision a mite proper, the very grain of her voice is always wonderfully earthy. She’s sensuous, learned, and spry, and she’s worth hearing in every phase of her career. —M.M.
