Keith Richards ranks the 20 greatest singers of all time

admin-cdn12 October، 2025

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Keith Richards ranks the 20 greatest singers of all time

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

Thu 9 October 2025 17:39, UK

The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to his musical choices.

His outspoken ways have landed him in the occasional feud, but more often than not, he’s celebrating his influences in such a way that in another lifetime, he could’ve been some sort of eccentric musicologist living vicariously through the blues, roots, and reggae artists that went before him or followed in his stride.

“What I love about reggae,” Richards regaled in the recent Under the Influence documentary, “Is that it’s all so natural, there’s none of this forced stuff that I was getting tired of in rock music.”

He then goes on to clarify, “Rock and roll I never get tired of, but ‘rock’ is a white man’s version, and they turn it into a march, that’s [the modern] version of rock. Excuse me,” he adds humorously, “I prefer the roll.”

Over the years, he even went as far as to single out Black Sabbath and Metallica as offenders of this sacrilegious march, labelling them “jokes”. Richards, as ever, wasn’t willing to laugh along. He adored the blues when he was little, and when he fell “in love” with Ronnie Spector after hearing a private rendition of ‘Be My Baby’ backstage as he was just breaking through, he sought out music with a discernible sense of swinging soul.

Naturally, with those comments in mind, his 20 favourite singers list is quite reggae and blues heavy, but there are a few other outliers in the mix that hint at the Rolling Stones legend’s eclectic selection of loves and influences. The list in question comes as part of Rolling Stone’s ‘100 greatest singers of all time’ piece that saw eminent stars supply a ballot of their own arsenal of favourites.

Now, it is well worth noting that Richards’ list dates back to 2008, so it may well have changed a bit over the years, and with Richards himself taking up a spot on the list, it is perhaps not his most definitive selection, but it still makes interesting reading, nevertheless. Notably, his taste is pretty impeccable. While there are eye-opening absentees in the form of stellar vocalists like Nina Simone, Al Green, and Jeff Buckley, Richards showcases a refined and dignified ear with his stirring roster.

Keith Richards live with The Rolling Stones in 2015. (Credits: Far Out / Raph Pour-Hashemi)

Taking the top spot on Richards’ list is the woman who famously could “make anything sound good” – Aretha Franklin. Her inclusion is perhaps unsurprising, not just because it is self-evident that she is one of the greatest singers of all time, but because Richards also inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the first-ever female to join when Richards opened the door. His speech was mostly a list of grunts and nods, but his affection for Lady Soul was clear. ‘Keef’ was also lucky enough to collaborate with her, so he knows her skills firsthand, too.

The next spot on the list is occupied by the reggae pioneer Jimmy Cliff. The duo became pals after meeting when The Rolling Stones were cutting Goats Head Soup in Jamaica in 1973. This was a time that he remembered fondly in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, “[It was] very memorable, especially in that year. Because that was ’73. That was the year that [Bob] Marley and the Wailers put out Catch A Fire.”

“I remember being in Jamaica,” he adds. “There was this feeling in the air, actually, that Jamaica was starting to make a mark on the map. It was a great feeling.” After the record was cut, Richards decided to stay in Jamaica for a while, where he immersed himself in the vivified culture and basked in the sun-soaked glory of Reggae for a while and fell in love with Cliff’s music. “He wrote some of the most beautiful ballads that ever came out of Jamaica,” Richards remarked.

Further down the list, another of Richards’ close pals crops up in the form of Tom Waits and his thousand-year-old, stout-hearted, smoky voice. “There’s nobody in the world like him,” Waits says of his friend and collaborator, Richards.

Speaking to NPR’s Fresh Air, he spoke of their time working on Waits’ iconic Rain Dogs together, stating: “We wrote songs together for a while and that was fun [but] he doesn’t really remember anything or write anything down. So, you play for an hour and he would yell across the room, ‘Scribe!’ And I looked around. ‘Scribe? Who’s the scribe?’ And he’d say it again, now pointing at me.” This, like his list, is indicative of the fact that he’s interested in fresh energy rather than familiar tradition.

The common theme throughout all of Richards’ selections is that he champions a unique voice over the classical measures. Every one of his choices exhibits a great deal of character in their singing, and when you reflect on the near-fictional figure that Richards cuts for himself, that couldn’t be a more befitting criteria.

The second most notable theme is his penchant for making a stir. Mick Jagger proves to be a glaring omission, particularly in light of the fact that he included himself. Over the years, he has augmented the stance of this exclusion by making quips about how he was jealous of the fact that The Beatles had four fine singers at their disposal, and The Rolling Stones didn’t even have one.

Yet, it is also worth noting that Richards understands that singers and frontmen are two separate beasts. He made that perfectly clear when he praised his own beleagured/beloved Jagger as being able to offer “ten times” more than David Bowie when it came to performance.

Ultimately, his view on singing, and songs for that matter, is how much meaning they can convey with minimal oration. As he put it in his memoir, “I always thought that’s what songs are really about; you’re not supposed to be singing songs about hiding things. And when my voice got better and stronger, I was able to communicate that raw feeling, and so I wrote more tender songs, love songs, if you like. […] Composing a song like that, in front of a mike, is like holding on to a friend in a way.”

In some way, I suppose his list conveys that mysticism. Yes, in typical Richards style, you might be hard-pushed to say that his list is objectively correct, but you can’t say that it isn’t entertaining and full of unique personality. You can check out the full list below.