15. Shirley Manson
As lead singer of Garbage, Shirley Manson brought a sense of gravitas to songs like “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl.” She could do a restrained contralto on songs like “#1 Crush” and “Queer” that had all the power of any high-pitched shouter.
14. St. Vincent
Anyone who says rock and roll is dead isn’t listening to the right bands. Anne Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, is an exceptional songwriter and guitar player who can deliver alt-leaning songs like “Broken Man” and “Flea” with the same intensity that she put into “Birth in Reverse” and the Bowie-inspired “Digital Witness” from her self-titled album more than ten years ago.
13. Tatiania Shmayluk
Tatiania Shmayluk fronts Jinjer, a standout heavy metal band from Ukraine. If that sounds incongruous, give one listen to any of the band’s six albums with Shmayluk at the front and – if you’re a metal fan – you will be sold.
She can sing melodies, growl and scream, huff and puff, and blow your house down. She is one of the best metal vocalists working today, regardless of gender.
12. Poly Styrene
X-Ray Spex only released a couple of original albums, and their sensational frontwoman, Poly Styrene, only released a couple more as a solo artist. Her unique delivery made songs, like “Identity” from X-Ray Spex's debut album and “Beautiful Sneakers” from the solo album released just before she died in 2011, powerhouses.
As a revolutionary punk rocker at the dawn of the conservative 1980s, Poly (birth name – Marianne Joan Elliott-Said) struggled with the same biases directed at Romeo Void’s awesome Debora Iyall. Labels wanted air-brushed starlets and not real women singing. Missing out on Poly Styrene’s voice in the 1980s was a significant loss.
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