Shropshire Star

Ozzy Osbourne and Robert Plant named in Rolling Stone's '200 Greatest Singers of All Time'

Birmingham-raised Ozzy Osbourne and West Bromwich-born Robert Plant have both been named in Rolling Stone's '200 Greatest Singers of All Time'.

Published
Ozzy Osbourne

The Black Sabbath frontman comes in at 112 while the former Led Zeppelin front man is listed at number 63.

Rolling Stone has hailed "the vocalists that have shaped history and defined our lives" and the list was compiled by its staff and key contributors.

Its listing for Ozzy says: "Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t have what most people would call a good voice, but boy does he have a great one.

"His bombastic shout is reminiscent of drill bits and electric guitar feedback, his phrasing is not nimble, but the way he sounds like no one else is a superpower.

"By theatrically embracing those unique limits, and by wholeheartedly committing to the bit — a grand guignol carnival barker, a crazy train conductor — Ozzy not only manages to out-blast guitar gods like Tony Iommi and Randy Rhoads but proves himself a riveting heavy-metal yarn spinner, menacing but full of good humor."

Robert Plant

Under its listing for Robert Plant, Rolling Stone says: "As much flak as Robert Plant rightly gets for his liberal borrowings from blues lyrics, his actual vocal style, informed early on by sources such as Skip James and Blind Lemon Jefferson, quickly evolved into something unique.

"Take “Immigrant Song,” with its screechy wailing and weirdly languid croon, or the dreamy warble he adopts in “Kashmir.”

"As over the top as his Led Zeppelin work could get, some of Plant’s greatest performances came when he aimed for serenity rather than savagery (see: “Going to California,” “The Rain Song,” “Ten Years Gone”). It’s almost as if he always knew he’d reinvent himself as a mystical folkie — and one reason why his later collaborations with Alison Krauss and musicians from Mali and Morocco are some of the most credible late-career vocal work by an ex-arena rocker."

Coming top of the list was Aretha Franklin, followed by Whitney Houston at number two and Sam Cooke at three.

To view the full list visit rollingstone.com