Best Female Singers (past-present)
by BatBanks | created - 15 May 2011 | updated - 15 Nov 2019 | Public
1. Barbra Streisand
Actress | Yentl
Barbra Streisand is an American singer, actress, director and producer and one of the most successful personalities in show business. She is the only person ever to receive all of the following: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable Ace, National Endowment for the Arts, and Peabody awards,...
2. Amy Winehouse
Soundtrack | Amy
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983 in Enfield, London, England and raised in Southgate, London, England to Janis Holly Collins (née Seaton), a pharmacist & Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, a window panel installer and taxi driver. Her family shared her love of theater and music. Amy was ...
3. Aretha Franklin
Actress | The Blues Brothers
Grammy-winning Queen of Soul and the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Barbara Vernice (Siggers) and C. L. Franklin, a Baptist minister, who preached at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for over thirty ...
4. Annie Lennox
Soundtrack | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Annie Lennox was born on December 25, 1954 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK. She is a music artist and actress, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Scrooged (1988) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). She has been married to Mitch Besser since September 15, 2012. ...
5. Sarah McLachlan
Soundtrack | Charlotte's Web
Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is a music artist and actress, known for Charlotte's Web (2006), Sarah McLachlan: Possession, Version 2 (1993) and Toy Story 2 (1999). She was previously married to Ashwin Sood.
6. Norah Jones
Soundtrack | Ted
Norah Jones (born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is a daughter of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones. She is Anoushka Shankar's half-sister.
In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the ...
7. Peggy Lee
Actress | Lady and the Tramp
Peggy Lee was Born Norma Dolores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, on May 26, 1920. At age four her mother died. Peggy's father, a railroad station agent, remarried but later left home, leaving Peggy's care entrusted to a stepmother who physically abused her. Peggy later memorialized this in the ...
8. Ella Fitzgerald
Soundtrack | Sphere
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...
9. Gladys Knight
Actress | Hollywood Homicide
Gladys Knight was born on May 28, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Hollywood Homicide (2003), The Butler (2013) and Licence to Kill (1989). She has been married to William McDowell since April 12, 2001. She was previously married to Les Brown, Barry Hankerson...
10. Adele
Soundtrack | Skyfall
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born May 5, 1988) is a British singer-songwriter who has sold millions of albums worldwide and won a total of 15 Grammys as well as an Oscar. Adele's first two albums, 19 and 21, earned her critical praise and a level of commercial success unsurpassed among her peers. ...
11. Tina Turner
Soundtrack | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.
Born to a ...
12. Billie Holiday
Soundtrack | Minority Report
Billie Holiday was a true artist of her day and rose as a social phenomenon in the 1950s. Her soulful, unique singing voice and her ability to boldly turn any material that she confronted into her own music made her a superstar of her time. Today, Holiday is remembered for her masterpieces, ...
13. Joni Mitchell
Soundtrack | Two Weeks Notice
Joni Mitchell is one of the most highly regarded and influential songwriters of the 20th century. Her melodious tunes support her poetic and often very personal lyrics to make her one of the most authentic artists of her time. As a performer she is widely hailed for her unique style of playing ...
14. Susan Boyle
Actress | Zoolander 2
Susan Boyle was born on April 1, 1961 in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for Zoolander 2 (2016), The Christmas Candle (2013) and Million Dollar Arm (2014).
15. Anita Baker
Soundtrack | Blockers
Anita was born January 26, 1958 in Toledo, Ohio and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She began singing in church choir when she was 12 and at 16 sang in a local group along with high school friends. In 1975 she successfully auditioned for the group Chapter 8, having been approached by bass player ...
16. Dinah Washington
Soundtrack | Shutter Island
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the former Ruth Lee Jones moved with her family to Chicago as a young girl. She considered the Windy City her true home. And it was there in early 1940s that a local nightclub owner provided her first gig - and a new name that she would make famous. By 1959 she had ...
17. Brenda Lee
Soundtrack | Joy Ride
Brenda Lee was born on December 11, 1944 in Lithonia, Georgia, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Joy Ride (2001), Dick Tracy (1990) and Reindeer Games (2000). She has been married to Charles Ronald 'Ronnie' Shacklett since April 24, 1963. They have two children.
18. Stephanie Mills
Soundtrack | Cop Out
Stephanie Mills was born on March 22, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Cop Out (2010), Fletch (1985) and The Wiz Live! (2015). She was previously married to Micheal Saunders, Dino Meminger and Jeffrey Daniel.
19. Petula Clark
Soundtrack | Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Petula Clark was a star at the age of 11. She starred in British concert halls and on BBC radio singing for the troops during WWII. She was a child star in a series of British films from the end of WWII through to the early 1950s,and by 1954 was having hit records. After a move to France in 1960, ...
20. Sarah Vaughan
Soundtrack | The Adjustment Bureau
Sarah Vaughan was born March 27, 1924 in Newark, NJ, and died April 3, 1990, in Los Angeles of lung cancer. Her parents were Asbury, a carpenter, and Ada, a laundress. She began studying music when she was seven, taking eight years of piano lessons and two years of organ. As a child she sang in the...
21. Sheryl Crow
Soundtrack | Tomorrow Never Dies
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American musician, actress and singer from Kennett, Missouri. She is known for multi-genre songs such as "Soak Up the Sun", "Real Gone", "All I Wanna Do", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Picture" and "My Favorite Mistake". Her songs can be heard in films such as Cars, Kangaroo ...
22. Sheena Easton
Soundtrack | For Your Eyes Only
Sheena Easton started off as a worldwide sensation in the music industry. Since then she has expanded to movies (All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996), Indecent Proposal (1993)), Broadway ("Man of La Mancha") and TV (Body Bag (1997), Highlander (1992), Gargoyles (1994), Jack's Place (1992), The Adventures...
23. Liza Minnelli
Soundtrack | Cabaret
Liza Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. She was practically raised at MGM studios while her parents worked long hours there and she made her film debut at 14 months of age in the movie In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her ...
24. Dionne Warwick
Soundtrack | Alive
Dionne Warwick was born on December 12, 1940 in East Orange, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Alive (1993), The Happytime Murders (2018) and Bird Box (2018). She was previously married to William Elliott.
25. Reba McEntire
Actress | Reba
Reba Nell McEntire was born on Monday, March 28th, 1955, in McAlester, Oklahoma. The reigning queen of country music has pursued a musical career since she was 5. In Junior High school, she performed with her musical siblings, aka the Singing McEntires. A fine athlete, Reba McEntire followed in the...
26. Judy Garland
Actress | The Wizard of Oz
One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals.
She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on 10 June 1922 in ...
27. Whitney Houston
Soundtrack | The Bodyguard
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born into a musical family on 9 August 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of gospel star Cissy Houston (née Emily Lee Drinkard) and John Russell Houston, Jr., and cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick.
She began singing in the choir at her church, The New Hope ...
1980s-1990s.
28. Mariah Carey
Soundtrack | Glitter
Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York on March 27, 1969. Her parents are Patricia Hickey (Irish-American) and Alfred Roy Carey (African-American/Venezuelan). Mariah attended Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. In June 1990, Mariah made her debut with her self-titled album, Mariah Carey ...
29. Linda Ronstadt
Soundtrack | The Pirates of Penzance
Linda Ronstadt was born on July 15, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for The Pirates of Penzance (1983), An American Tail (1986) and The Abyss (1989).
30. Cher
Actress | Moonstruck
The beat goes on ... and on ... and as strong as ever for this superstar entertainer who has well surpassed the half-century mark while improbably transforming herself from an artificial, glossy "flashionplate" singer into a serious, Oscar-worthy, dramatic actress ... and back again! With more ups ...
31. Julie Andrews
Actress | The Sound of Music
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...
32. Toni Braxton
Soundtrack | The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
Toni Braxton was born on October 7, 1966 in Severn, Maryland, USA. She is a music artist and producer, known for The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (2012), Boomerang (1992) and Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart (2016). She was previously married to Keri Lewis.
33. Bette Midler
Soundtrack | Beaches
Multi Grammy Award-winning singer/comedienne/author Bette Midler has also proven herself to be a very capable actress in a string of both dramatic and comedic roles. Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 1, 1945. She is the daughter of Ruth (Schindel), a seamstress, and Fred Midler, a ...
34. Patsy Cline
Soundtrack | Assassin's Creed
Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia. Her brush with show business came at age four when she won a prize in an amateur tap dancing contest. By the time she entered grade school, her family was fully aware of her musical talent. On her eighth ...
35. Tammy Wynette
Soundtrack | Cold Pursuit
Tammy once said: "I spent 15 minutes writing ["Stand by Your Man"], and a lifetime defending it". She was born Virginia Wynette Pugh on May 5, 1942, on her grandfather's cotton farm in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Tammy picked cotton as a child, and as a young woman worked as a waitress, a ...
36. Judy Collins
Actress | Junior
Judy Collins was born on May 1, 1939 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Junior (1994), Hereditary (2018) and Starsky & Hutch (2004). She has been married to Louis Nelson since April 16, 1996. She was previously married to Peter A. Taylor.
37. Rosemary Clooney
Actress | White Christmas
She was the daughter of Andrew and Frances Clooney and grew up in Maysville, Kentucky, where she and her sister Betty Clooney used to sing in her grandfather's mayoral election campaigns, which he won three times. She made her singing debut on Cincinnati radio station WLW in 1941 at 13. On WLW she ...
38. Wynonna Judd
Soundtrack | Lilo & Stitch
Wynonna Judd was raised in various places across the country, beginning in her birth state of Kentucky. As her mother Naomi Judd continued pursuing her nursing career, the Judd family settled twice in California and later full-time in Kentucky. In 1979, Wynonna, Naomi and younger half-sister Ashley...
39. Sade
Soundtrack | A Wrinkle in Time
Sade was born on January 16, 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a music artist and composer, known for A Wrinkle in Time (2018), True Lies (1994) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). She was previously married to Carlos Scola.
40. Natalie Cole
Soundtrack | Taxi
Growing up and living under the huge, daunting shadow of a singing icon can intimidate a son or daughter enough to want to look anywhere else to find their station in life. Those who dared to try to follow in their footsteps, such as Frank Sinatra Jr., found success branching out in other areas of ...
41. Lesley Gore
Soundtrack | Suicide Squad
Lesley Gore was born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York City, to Ronny and Leo Goldstein, a manufacturer of children's clothes and swimwear. Her family was Jewish. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. Gore hit the music scene at 17 years of age in 1963 with the teen anthem "It's My Party". ...
42. Patti Page
Soundtrack | Die Hard 2
Patti Page was born Clara Ann Fowler in Oklahoma in 1927. She began her professional singing career at KTUL, a Tulsa radio station. Since the program was sponsored by Page Milk, she adopted the moniker Patti Page, and it stuck. Patti toured the US in the late 1940s with Jimmy Joy, and notably sang ...
43. Martha Reeves
Soundtrack | Thelma & Louise
Martha Reeves was born on July 18, 1941 in Eufaula, Alabama, USA. She is an actress, known for Thelma & Louise (1991), It's a Life Worth Living (2020) and Fairy Tales (1978).
44. Vanessa Williams
Actress | Ugly Betty
Vanessa Lynne Williams was born on March 18, 1963 in Tarrytown, Greenburgh, New York and raised in Millwood, New Castle, New York to Helen Williams & Milton Williams, both music teachers. Vanessa and her brother grew up in suburban New York in comfortable surroundings. Vanessa sang and danced in ...
45. Mary Wells
Soundtrack | The Little Things
Detroit-born (in 1943) Mary Wells was one of the first stars of the soon-to-be-legendary Motown Records, and while she became one of the label's superstars, she had very, very difficult early years that many other people would not have been able to overcome. As a child she contracted spinal ...
46. Doris Day
Soundtrack | Love Me or Leave Me
One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died ...
47. Carly Simon
Soundtrack | All Good Things
Carly Simon has an unparalleled career that spans five decades of openhearted storytelling both in song and print. Joining the singer-songwriters of the early 1970s, Simon changed the public's conception of pop music to an honest, sensitive and intelligent craftwork. Simon's biggest success came ...
48. Cyndi Lauper
Soundtrack | Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Cyndi Lauper was born on June 22, 1953 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1983), Vibes (1988) and Mad About You (1992). She has been married to David Thornton since November 24, 1991. They have...
49. Martina McBride
Soundtrack | Runaway Bride
Martina McBride was born on July 29, 1966 in Sharon, Kansas, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Runaway Bride (1999), Where the Heart Is (2000) and Four Christmases (2008). She has been married to John McBride since May 15, 1988. They have three children.
50. Alicia Keys
Soundtrack | The Secret Life of Bees
Alicia Keys was born in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, to Terria Joseph (née Teresa M. Augello), a paralegal who was also an occasional actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Her father is African-American and her mother, who is Caucasian, is of Italian and English/Irish/Scottish ancestry. Alicia...
51. Patti LaBelle
Soundtrack | Miami Vice
Patti LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Patti began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer of the band Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. A decade later the group changed their name to Labelle and recorded the hit song "Lady Marmalade". Patti...
52. Dolly Parton
Soundtrack | The Porter Wagoner Show
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee and raised in Sevierville, Tennessee to Avie Lee Parton, a housewife & Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at ...
53. Shania Twain
Soundtrack | I Heart Huckabees
Shania Twain was born as Eilleen Regina Edwards in 1965 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, one of three daughters of Clarence and Sharon (Morrison) Edwards (sister Jill is two years older and Carrie-Ann three years younger). When she was age six, her mother remarried Jerry Twain, a full-blooded Ojibwa ...
54. Chaka Khan
Actress | The Blues Brothers
Chaka Khan was born on March 23, 1953 in Great Lakes, Illinois, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for The Blues Brothers (1980), Mission: Impossible III (2006) and Hollywood Homicide (2003). She has been married to Doug Rasheed since 2001. She was previously married to Richard Holland ...
55. Janis Joplin
Soundtrack | Watchmen
Janis Lyn Joplin was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the oil-refining town of Port Arthur, Texas, near the border with Louisiana. Her father was a cannery worker and her mother was a registrar for a business college. As an overweight teenager, she was a folk-music devotee (especially Odetta, ...
56. Shirley Bassey
Soundtrack | Moonraker
Shirley Bassey was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, and raised in the nearby working class neighborhood of Splott. Her mother was originally from Yorkshire, and her father was a Nigerian seaman who left the family when she was less than two. She later helped to support her family by working in an...
57. Etta James
Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Etta James is an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz, gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a ...
58. Diana Ross
Soundtrack | The Wiz
Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ernestine Earle Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children of African-American parents Ernestine Lillian (Moten), a schoolteacher, and Fred Earl Ross, who served in the ...
59. Donna Summer
Soundtrack | Thank God It's Friday
Donna Summer rocketed to international super-stardom in the mid-1970s when her groundbreaking merger of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica catapulted underground dance music out of the clubs of Europe to the pinnacles of sales and radio charts around the world.
Maintaining...
60. Faith Hill
Actress | The Stepford Wives
Audrey Faith McGraw known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer, actress and record producer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill's first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (...
61. Katy Perry
Actress | The Smurfs
Katy Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California to Mary Christine Hudson (née Perry) & Maurice Keith Hudson. She has a big sister named Angela & a little brother named David, and has English, Portuguese, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Her ...
62. Darlene Love
Actress | Lethal Weapon 4
Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with the vocal trio, The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show Shindig! (1964) in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on ...
63. LeAnn Rimes
Soundtrack | Coyote Ugly
LeAnn started singing at age 3, and has sold over 20 million records since. She was born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. By age 7, LeAnn made her stage debut in a Dallas musical production of "A Christmas Carol". Later, she would sing "The Star Spangled Banner" to open Dallas Cowboys ...
64. Gloria Estefan
Soundtrack | Music of the Heart
Gloria Estefan was born on September 1, 1957 in Havana, Cuba. She is a music artist and actress, known for Music of the Heart (1999), Poseidon (2006) and The Specialist (1994). She has been married to Emilio Estefan Jr. since September 2, 1978. They have two children.
65. Shirley Jones
Actress | The Music Man
Named after child star Shirley Temple, Shirley Jones started singing at the age of six. She started formal training at the age of 12 and would dream of singing with her idol, Gordon MacRae. Upon graduating from high school, Shirley went to New York to audition for the casting director of Rodgers & ...
66. Tammi Terrell
Soundtrack | Guardians of the Galaxy
Tammi Terrell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA as Thomasina Winifred Montgomery. She is best known for singing duets with Marvin Gaye in the 1960s, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." She was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the height of her popularity and after unsuccessful ...
67. Bessie Smith
Soundtrack | Angel Heart
Bessie Smith was born on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Angel Heart (1987), Water for Elephants (2011) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). She was married to Jack Gee. She died on September 26, 1937 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA.
68. Sinéad O'Connor
Soundtrack | In the Name of the Father
Sinéad O'Connor was born on December 8, 1966 in Glenageary, Ireland. She was a music artist and actress, known for In the Name of the Father (1993), Vanilla Sky (2001) and Sinéad O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2 U (1990). She was married to Barry Herridge, Steve Cooney, Nicholas Sommerlad and ...
69. Lena Horne
Soundtrack | Cabin in the Sky
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...
70. Connie Francis
Soundtrack | When the Boys Meet the Girls
Singer, composer, actress, entertainer and publisher Connie Francis was educated at Arts High School and was a music student of her father. At age 11 she appeared on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (1948) as a singer and accordionist. She has toured the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and ...
71. Selena Gomez
Actress | Spring Breakers
Actress and singer Selena Gomez was born on July 22, 1992 in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of Mandy Teefey and Ricardo Gomez. Her mother is of part Italian ancestry, and her father is of Mexican descent. She was named after Tejano singer Selena, who died in 1995.
Her first acting role ...
72. Miley Cyrus
Soundtrack | Hannah Montana
Miley Ray Cyrus was born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992 in Franklin, Tennessee and raised in Thompson's Station, Tennessee to Tish Cyrus & Billy Ray Cyrus. She has five siblings - two half-brothers, a half-sister, and a younger brother and sister. Her parents named her because they hoped ...
73. Janet Jackson
Soundtrack | Poetic Justice
Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born on May 16, 1966 in Gary, Indiana, to Katherine Jackson (née Katherine Esther Scruse) and Joe Jackson, a musician. She is the youngest of ten children. Before her birth, her brothers formed a band later called The Jackson 5. She lived at home with her sisters, while ...
74. Britney Spears
Soundtrack | Crossroads
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi & raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. As a child, Britney attended dance classes, and she was great at gymnastics, winning many competitions and the like. But, most of all, Britney loved to sing. At age 8, Britney tried out for The ...
75. Eartha Kitt
Actress | The Emperor's New Groove
An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school...
76. Karen Carpenter
Soundtrack | Paul Williams: Still Alive
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Karen Carpenter moved with her family to Downey, California, in 1963. Karen's older brother, Richard Carpenter, decided to put together an instrumental trio with him on the piano, Karen on the drums and their friend Wes Jacobs on the bass and tuba. In a battle of the...
77. Nina Simone
Soundtrack | Point of No Return
Nina Simone was born on February 21, 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for Point of No Return (1993), Repo Men (2010) and Miami Vice (2006). She was married to Andrew Stroud and Donald Ross. She died on April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, ...
78. Teena Marie
Soundtrack | Top Gun
Teena Marie was born on March 5, 1956 in Santa Monica, California, USA. She was an actress and composer, known for Top Gun (1986), The Goonies (1985) and Maid in Manhattan (2002). She died on December 26, 2010 in Pasadena, California, USA.
79. Carole King
Soundtrack | A League of Their Own
Carole King is an American composer and singer-songwriter.
She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the USA, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making ...
80. Bonnie Raitt
Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Bonnie Raitt was born on November 8, 1949 in Burbank, California, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), Nick of Time (1995) and Ladder 49 (2004). She was previously married to Michael O'Keefe.
81. Diana Krall
Soundtrack | Public Enemies
Diana Jean Krall was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, to Adella A. (Wende), an elementary school teacher, and Stephen James Krall, an accountant. She has Czech, German, English, and Scottish ancestry. Krall was raised in Nanaimo, a small community on Vancouver Island, where she began ...
82. Idina Menzel
Soundtrack | Frozen
Idina Menzel was born on May 30, 1971 in New York City, New York as Idina Kim Mentzel. She's an American actress, singer & songwriter. She's best known as Maureen in Rent, Elphaba in Wicked & the voice of Elsa in Frozen (2013). Her mother Helene Goldberg was a therapist & her father Stuart Mentzel ...
83. Melissa Etheridge
Soundtrack | An Inconvenient Truth
Melissa Etheridge was born on May 29, 1961 in Leavenworth, Kansas, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Money Train (1995) and The Devil's Own (1997). She has been married to Linda Wallem since May 31, 2014.
84. Pink
Actress | Thanks for Sharing
Pink was born Alecia Beth Moore in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and was later raised in Philadelphia. Her parents, Judith Moore (née Kugel), a nurse, and Jim Moore, a Vietnam veteran, divorced when she was very young. Her mother is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, while her father has Irish, German, ...
85. Natalie Cole
Soundtrack | Taxi
Growing up and living under the huge, daunting shadow of a singing icon can intimidate a son or daughter enough to want to look anywhere else to find their station in life. Those who dared to try to follow in their footsteps, such as Frank Sinatra Jr., found success branching out in other areas of ...
86. Kristin Chenoweth
Actress | Pushing Daisies
Kristin Chenoweth is an American stage, screen and television actress, though, depending on who you ask, Chenoweth fans may disagree on what her most famous roles are. Since Chenoweth began her career, she has been credited with roles in musicals and plays on and off-Broadway, on various television...
87. Pearl Bailey
Soundtrack | The Fox and the Hound
Her father Joseph was a minister and her mother was named Ella Mae. Her birth name was Pearly Mae but her parents anticipated she would be a boy and when a girl was born she was nicknamed "Dickie". Her brother was entertainer Bill Bailey (1912-1978). She spent her early life in Washington DC where ...
88. Bonnie Tyler
Soundtrack | Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Born on June 8, 1951 in Skewen, Neath, Wales. She first came to prominence in 1976 with the song, "Lost in France", which made the UK top 10. Following a throat operation, she inadvertently developed her distinct singing voice. She had a transatlantic top 5 hit with "It's a Heartache" in 1978.
She ...
89. Bernadette Peters
Actress | The Jerk
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...
90. Kim Carnes
Soundtrack | Flashdance
Raspy-voiced singer/songwriter Kim Carnes was born on July 20, 1945 in Los Angeles, California. Kim wanted to become a successful singer and songwriter ever since she was three. Carnes began her music career in the 60s writing songs for other artists while performing at local clubs and working as a...
91. Kelly Clarkson
Soundtrack | The Kelly Clarkson Show
Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born on April 24, 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas and raised in Burleson, Texas to Jeanne Ann Taylor (née Rose), an English teacher & Stephen Michael Clarkson, an engineer. She was the first winner of the series American Idol in 2002. Kelly is also a strong believer in God.
92. Christina Aguilera
Soundtrack | The Voice
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980 in Staten Island, New York City, New York to musician Shelly Loraine Fidler Kearns and U.S. Army sergeant Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera Monge. Her father is Ecuadorian and her mother, who is American-born, has Welsh, Dutch and German ancestry. ...
93. Lorde
Soundtrack | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
Born on November 7, 1996, Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor) is a singer/songwriter born in the Auckland suburb of Takapuna and raised in neighboring Devonport, New Zealand. She is of Irish and Croatian descent. She became an international crossover hit in 2013 with her debut studio album, ...
94. Dinah Shore
Soundtrack | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Her real name was Frances "Fanny" Rose Shore, and she was born in Winchester, Tennessee. Stricken with polio at 18 months of age, she recovered after receiving the Sister Kenny treatment. She became a cheerleader at Hume-Fogg High School in Nashville and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt ...
95. Debbie Reynolds
Actress | Singin' in the Rain
Debbie Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas, the second child of Maxine N. (Harmon) and Raymond Francis Reynolds, a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Her film career began at MGM after she won a beauty contest at age 16 impersonating Betty Hutton. Reynolds wasn't a ...
96. Stevie Nicks
Soundtrack | Sweet November
Stevie Nicks was born in Phoenix, Arizona. From an early age, she showed a love and aptitude for music, singing country and western duets with her grandfather when she was 4 years old. After moving to San Francisco, she began songwriting and performing at Menlo-Atherton High School, where she met ...
97. Ariana Grande
Soundtrack | Don't Look Up
Ariana Grande was born Ariana Grande-Butera on June 26, 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida to Joan Grande, a chief executive officer for Hose-McCann Communications & Edward Butera, a graphic designer, photographer, artist and Ibi Designs Inc. owner/founder. She starred in the 2008 musical, 13 before ...
98. Janelle Monáe
Soundtrack | Hidden Figures
Janelle Monáe is an American musical recording artist, actress and model signed to their own imprint, Wondaland Arts Society, and Atlantic Records.
They were born in Kansas City, Kansas, to Janet, a janitor, and Michael Robinson Summers, a truck driver. In 2010, Monáe released her first full-length ...
99. Celia Cruz
Soundtrack | Carlito's Way
Celia Cruz was born on October 21, 1925 in Havana, Cuba. She was a music artist and actress, known for Carlito's Way (1993), Amores Perros (2000) and Tower Heist (2011). She was married to Pedro Knight. She died on July 16, 2003 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA.
100. Selena
Soundtrack | Don Juan DeMarco
Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, 50 miles southeast of Houston, to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham opened a Mexican restaurant, Papagayo, in Lake Jackson. Selena was 9 years old when her father discovered her talent for singing. He formed a band consisting of Selena...
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