Top Ten Blues Singer Guide

The blues is a style of music that influences many other styles. There must be mention of several styles that have a great part in today's music. This top 10 guide shows many eras of great musical influence.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was a Texan who could sing and play like few are able to do. When you hear a song like Pride and Joy sung and played by Vaughan there is an unmistakable sound that grew to be his signature. Blues lovers everywhere are still sad for the loss of this blues great in 1990.

B.B. King from Memphis Tennessee has influenced many blues artist over many decades. B.B. King sits in a chair while playing his guitar that he named "Lucille". The B.B. King Blues Bar is a chain of night clubs where great blues singers can be heard just about any night of the week. B.B. King also is the feature performer at many blues festivals across the nation.

Big Mama Thornton was a female blues singer who first recorded "Hound Dog" in 1952 before Elvis Presley record it again. Big Mama Thornton also wrote and recorded "Ball n Chain" that Janis Joplin later recorded. Hearing talent like Big Mama Thornton, it is easy to understand why greats such as Presley and Joplin records her songs.

Ray Charles sings the blues with an R&B twist that leaves any person with ears knowing that they just heard something great. During a show in 1995 that featured Ray Charles as the headline act, the crowd of 15,000 people at Riverfront Park in Nashville TN went crazy as the Limo pulled up to the stage. The crowd was so loud that you could not even hear the opening band that happened to be on stage at that moment.

ZZ Top has been recording records since the 70's. Legendary blues guitar and vocals is what has made ZZ Top a lasting force in popular music. Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill provide the vocals while Frank Beard completes the trio. The ZZ Top trademark look is the long beards and ironically Frank Beard is the one member of the band that does not have a beard. An interesting fact about ZZ Top is that Billy Gibbons was Jimi Hendrix favorite guitar player.

Tom Keifer from the band Cinderella belted out many hits in the mid to late 1980's. I have personally worked with Cinderella and I have experienced this great blues singer first hand. Songs like Bad Seamstress Blues and Heartbreak Station show how rock n rollers play the blues.

Marvin Gaye was considered an R&B singer by most people but he had an intense blues feel in his recordings. With albums such as "What's Going On" and "Lets Get It On", Gaye demonstrated his R&B style with a certain blues vibe. Marvin Gaye died in Los Angeles in 1984.

Muddy Waters has been cranking out the blues hits since the 1960's and is known by many as "The Father of Chicago Blues". Waters influence on the blues makes him worthy of this top 10 list.

Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson also have an incredible style of blues. Many nights down at the Bourbon Street Boogie Bar in Nashville you can find bands that are playing music from Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson.