Thursday Thirteen

Today, a list of female singers who have influenced me in some way. They're not in any order of preference.


1. Pat Benatar - I first heard her songs when I was in high school. She was among the first women to "rock out" and gave me hope for doing so myself (although I went in another direction). Patricia Mae Giraldo, known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and four-time Grammy Award winner. She has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, three gold albums, and 15 Billboard Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", "Love Is a Battlefield", "We Belong", and "Invincible". She was nominated for a 2020 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



2. Joan Jett - I had just finished high school when I first heard Joan Jett singing "I love rock and roll" and doing it with joy and a growl. Joan Marie Jett is an American rock singer, songwriter, composer, musician, record producer and occasional actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and performing with the Runaways, which recorded and released the hit song "Cherry Bomb". The Blackhearts' version of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" was number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in 1982. Jett's other notable hit songs include "Bad Reputation", "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me", "Light of Day", "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Dirty Deeds".




3. Dolly Parton - The queen of country music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I watched her on the Porter Wagoner show. My parents listened mostly to country music when I was younger, so I know most of her early hits. (Once I could change the dial, unless a song of hers, such as "9 to 5" went to the Adult Top 40 charts as well as country, I rarely heard her.) I have a lot of admiration for Dolly Parton now, aside from the plastic surgery and botox stuff which I do not like. Still, she's got a good heart and has been quite the influence on younger musicians. Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I'm Dolly. With steady success during the remainder of the 1960s, her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records.




4. Chrissy Hynde - I am not sure when I first heard The Pretenders, Hynde's band, but I noticed her more in the 1990s than when I was younger. She can rock a guitar. Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is a founding member and the guitarist, lead vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, as well as its only constant member.




5. Sheryl Crow - I first became aware of Crow with her hit, "All I Wanna Do" and then followed her career for a while in the 1990s. I have several of her albums but as she turned more toward country, I stopped listening to her new work. I listen to her first four albums all the time, though. Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of pop, rock, country, jazz, and blues. She has released ten studio albums, four compilations, two live albums, and has contributed to a number of film soundtracks. Her most popular songs include "All I Wanna Do", "Strong Enough", "If It Makes You Happy", "Everyday Is a Winding Road", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "My Favorite Mistake", "Picture" and "Soak Up the Sun". She has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Crow has garnered nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.




6. Melissa Etheridge - I became aware of Etheridge about the same time as I did Sheryl Crow. Etheridge is more rock, although some of her ballads and slow songs are incredibly beautiful. She's also quite a musician and guitar player. Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist. Her self-titled debut album Melissa Etheridge was released in 1988 and became an underground success. The album peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200, and its lead single, "Bring Me Some Water", garnered Etheridge her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. In 1993, Etheridge won her first Grammy award for her single "Ain't It Heavy" from her third album, Never Enough. Later that year, she released what would become her mainstream breakthrough album, Yes I Am. Its tracks "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window" both reached the top 30 in the United States, and the latter earned Etheridge her second Grammy award. Yes I Am peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and spent 138 weeks on the chart, earning a RIAA certification of 6× Platinum, her largest to date.




7. Celine Dion - Everyone likes to make fun of Dion, and I have never understood why. I seem to lack the "make fun of" gene. I like her music, especially her work in the 1990s. She has a beautiful voice. I thought the theme from the Titanic movie that she did was lovely. Céline Marie Claudette Dion CC OQ is a Canadian singer. She is renowned for her powerful, technically skilled vocals, and remains the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of 200 million copies worldwide. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, she emerged as a teen star in her homeland with a series of French-language albums during the 1980s. She first gained international recognition by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Switzerland. After learning to speak English, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States. In 1990, Dion released her debut English-language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.




8. Stevie Nicks - What can I say about the wonderful, witchy Stevie Nicks? She rocked it as the lead singer in Fleetwood Mac and she is still rocking it. I was aware of Fleetwood Mac when I was in middle school, I think. I remember hearing a song with Christie McVie singing instead of Stevie and not believing it was Fleetwood Mac. The last CD I bought was a Stevie Nicks solo album. Stephanie Lynn Nicks is an American singer and songwriter. Nicks is best known for her work as a songwriter and vocalist with Fleetwood Mac, and her chart-topping solo career. She is known for her distinctive voice, mystical stage persona and poetic, symbolic lyrics. Her work both as a member of Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist has produced over forty top 50 hits and sold over 140 million records, making her one of the best-selling music acts of all time with Fleetwood Mac.




9. Linda Ronstadt - I saw Ronstadt in person when she toured in the late 1980s. It was a great concert. She certainly had a set of pipes on her and I was sad when I learned she has Parkinson's and can't sing anymore. Linda Maria Ronstadt is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, and Latin. She has earned 10 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she received a star jointly with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work as the group Trio. Linda Ronstadt was among the five Honorees who received the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements, at the annual event on December 8, 2019, in Washington, D.C., at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.




10. Anne Murray - I know, you're wondering why she's stuck in here, aren't you? Because she has a beautiful voice and I love her sound quality. Morna Anne Murray CC ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country, and adult contemporary music whose albums have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her 40-year career. Murray was the first Canadian female solo singer to reach No. 1 on the U.S. charts, and also the first to earn a Gold record for one of her signature songs, "Snowbird". She is often cited as one of the female Canadian artists who paved the way for other international Canadian success stories such as k.d. lang, Céline Dion, and Shania Twain. She is also the first woman and the first Canadian to win "Album of the Year" at the 1984 Country Music Association Awards for her Gold-plus 1983 album A Little Good News.




11. Aretha Franklin - I don't know that any list of female singers and musicians could leave out the Queen of Soul. I was in my 20s before I realized how important and influential she was. Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, and civil rights activist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she embarked on a secular-music career as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While Franklin's career did not immediately flourish, she found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as "I Never Loved a Man", "Respect", A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", and "I Say a Little Prayer" propelled her past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as the "Queen of Soul".




12. Ann & Nancy Wilson (Heart) - It took me a while to appreciate Heart, but after some study I have come to the conclusion that Nancy Wilson is one of the best female guitar players in the world and Ann is probably one of the best singers. Of course they are aging so that may not be true as the younger women move onto the stage, but they can rock out. Heart is an American rock band formed in 1970 in Seattle, Washington by Steve Fossen, Roger Fisher, David Belzer, and Jeff Johnson. It evolved from an existing band, White Heart. Since 1973 the vocalists for Heart have been sisters Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson.




13. Cyndi Lauper - Lauper is another singer who has grown on me as I have aged, mostly for her activism and common sense. Her songs in the 1980s did not stick with me then, but as I have learned more about her, I find I admire her for constantly moving forward. Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album She's So Unusual was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night"—and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors. This album included the number one single "True Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number three.





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