Who’s Who in the Singers of the Century list - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by Baby A. Gil

I have a feeling that the name Frank Sinatra and what it stands for is known to most people in many parts of the world. The same thing goes for Elvis Presley. And although she is not as well-known to pop music listeners, it is still quite easy to find fans of the great Ella Fitzgerald everywhere. Of course, the likes of John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Luciano Pavarotti and Barbra Streisand can truly be described as popular.

But many of us have never heard of Eva Cassidy or Michael Ball or Al Bowlly and some other names which made it to the list of the 100 greatest voices of the 20th Century according to a poll conducted by the British Broadcasting Corporation in London recently. If we have never heard of them, do they then deserve to be included in the list, some readers asked. And that is why I decided to come up with brief write-ups about some of the song artists they asked about.

Eva Cassidy: She was a folk singer from Washington, D.C., who also excels in pop, blues, jazz, R&B and gospel and who has been described as "one of the greatest voices of her generation." Unfortunately, Eva died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 33 and it was only after her death that she won the adulation she deserved. Her album Songbird was released posthumously in 1998 and made the critics’ lists for the top albums of the year including BBC’s Record of the Year honors. Unfortunately for us, Songbird does not seem to be available in the local music stores, so you will just have to get your copy from the US of A or the UK or wait until a local distributor picks up the rights.

Al Jolson: The legendary American star is also known as one of the greatest entertainers of all time. He was born in 1886 and died in 1950 at the age of 64. He usually performed in blackface and was a star of radio, the stage, films, vaudeville and recordings. He starred in the very first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, in 1927. He made 200 recordings and was responsible for such immortal favorites as Swanee, Sonny Boy, You Made Me Love You, Sitting on Top of the World, I Only Have Eyes for You, April Showers, Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody, Without a Song and many others. Many of his songs have digitally remastered and are now available on CDs.

Edith Piaf: The petite French songbird mesmerized Europe and America during the ’50s. Hers was a troubled life. Abandoned by her mother, she grew up in a brothel until she was old enough to take to the road with her musician father. It was then that she started singing and was soon a huge star of the theater, films and recordings. Men, drugs and alcohol became staples in her troubled life but despite these, her intensely emotional style resulted in many unforgettable songs. Among her most popular hits are La Vie en Rose, Milord, The Three Bells and This Land is Mine from the movie Exodus.

Paul Robeson: This son of a runaway slave graduated valedictorian from Rutgers College, got a law degree from Columbia and was an athlete, scholar, linguist, civil rights activist, author, actor, singer and the most popular and respected black American of the 1930’s and 1940’s. He was not able to pursue a career in law because a white stenographer refused to take dictation from him but he attained great success as a singer and actor. Robeson died a broken man in 1976 at the age of 78 because his left-leaning politics made him the target of persecution in America but his performances in films like Emperor Jones, the opera Othello and the musical Showboat are considered among the best ever.

Scott Walker: He was the original singing idol recluse who sported dark glasses and stayed in dark-curtained rooms most of the time. But before that he earned fame as part of the Walker Brothers with hits like Make It Easy on Yourself and The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore. As a solo act in the UK during the late ’60s, Walker was regarded as both a sex symbol and the finest exponent of baroque rock music. Although David Bowie and Bryan Ferry, also made it to the top voices of the century list, some fans of Walker still consider them imitations of their idol.