Best Singers to Front an 80s New Wave Band

Choosing the best 80s New Wave singers who fronted a band places a number of difficulties at your feet. First, you must decide which bands qualify as New Wave. Secondly, do you pick singers with the best voices or the ability to effectively deliver vocals behind a New Wave style?

Dave Wakeling: English Beat
Listening to Dave Wakeling sing songs like "I Confess" or "Save It For Later" is the audio equivalent of watching Lynn Swann gracefully rising to snag a pass from Bradshaw. Wakeling has a soothing vocal style that sounds effortlessly elegant and is capable of making a song as brittle as "Mirror in the Bathroom" sound just as mellifluous as "Can't Get Used to Losing You." Hands down, Wakeling is the best singer to ever front an 80s New Wave band.

Siouxsie Sioux: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Yes, okay, Siouxsie and the Banshees grew directly out of the punk uprising of England '76, but the band really came into its own in its more accessible New Wave incarnation of the 80s. A fair appraisal of Siouxsie Sioux's actually rather remarkable voice can be gathered by listening to the cataclysmic vocal performance she provides on "Cities in Dust" followed immediately by the seductive and enticing whisper on her cover of "Trust in Me" from the soundtrack of Disney's "The Jungle Book."

Martin Fry: ABC
Problematic choice for those who would deny that ABC even was a New Wave band, but they were and Martin Fry was definitely one of the great singers in any 80s band. The range of Fry's ridiculously melodious voice can be exhibited by the manner in which he delivers the blue eyed soul of "The Look of Love" with the same aplomb with which he sings the much tougher rock of "That was Then, but This is Now."

Clare Grogan: Altered Images
The truth is that Altered Images really only put out a handful of memorable songs. Grogan's voice is the single most identifiable element to these songs and that should definitely be a consideration in picking great 80s New Wave band singers. Altered Images may not have the impressive discography of Squeeze, the Go-Gos or the Police, but in "I Could Be Happy" Grogan delivers a song for the ages with her high, girlish, sweetly na¯ve voice that kicks you right in the gut with the song's surprising culmination.