Amazingly, Adele got her start in 2006, when a friend posted her demo on Myspace and XL Recordings took note. The following year, Adele received the Brit Awards’ Critics’ Choice award and, well, a whole slew of awards since then. She consistently ranks high on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music, and Time has dubbed her one of the most influential people in the world.
Carly Simon
A now-iconic American musician, Carly Simon first rose to prominence in the ’70s with hits like “You’re So Vain,” “Mockingbird” and “Nobody Does It Better.” Simon has amassed an impressive 24 Billboard Hot 100 sinlges, 28 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles, and several Grammy awards. She is considered one of the quintessential songwriters in American music history.
Aretha Franklin
I mean, right? She is the Queen of Soul. Aretha Franklin’s catalog of hits includes classics like “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and “Think,” and you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t know every single lyric of at least one of her songs. This powerhouse has bagged 18 Grammys, is one of the best-selling artists of all time and has been inducted into several musical halls of fame.
Bessie Smith
One of the most beloved blues singers of the ’20s and ’30s, Bessie Smith was dubbed the Empress of the Blues. During her time under the Columbia Records label, she collaborated with jazz greats including Fletcher Henderson, Charlie Green and Louis Armstrong. Her first single, “Downhearted Blues,” was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a historically, culturally and aesthetically significant song in American music.
Beverly Sills
Despite great personal pain and tragedy in her life — she had two disabled children, one of whom was deaf — Beverly Sills was a pioneering voice not only in opera but in advocacy for the prevention and treatment of birth defects as well. An American operatic soprano, Sills performed and recorded many roles in the operas of Donizetti. After retirement, she became the general manager of the New York City Opera and, later, the chairman of the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera.
Beyoncé
Arguably no other modern entertainmer boasts the level of instant recognition as Beyoncé. After rising to fame as the lead singer of the R&B group Destiny’s Child — one of the best-selling girl groups ever — Bey struck out on her own and has since reached icon status. In 2015, Time named her the most powerful female musician of the year. In addition to winning 20 Grammys, Beyoncé is the most nominated woman in the award program’s history. She routinely uses her influence as a modern-day feminist to empower young women the world over.
Billie Holiday
Few voices in music history are as powerful or as profound as Billie Holiday’s. Lady Day, as she was often called, is a legendary jazz musician whose influence remains relevant to this day. Sadly, much of Holiday’s major recognition and success was posthumous, including all four Grammys and her induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame. If you haven’t been affected by Holiday’s haunting vocals, you haven’t been listening.
Bonnie Raitt
Ranked as one of Rolling Stone‘s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time as well as the mag’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Bonnie Raitt pioneered the unique breed that is Americana music (a rootsy mix of blues, rock, folk and country). Hit singles such as “Something to Talk About,” “Love Sneakin’ Up on You” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” helped Raitt earn 10 Grammys throughout her career, which is still thriving. She remains one of the most recognizable women of rock.
Carole King
You can’t talk about a prolific career in the music industry without mentioning this amazing lady. Carole King’s career — which kicked off in the ’60s — includes more than two dozen (well-known) hits for other artists in the industry as well as many she performed herself. She’s responsible for timeless songs such as “So Far Away” and “It’s Too Late.” The Library of Congress has officially deemed her “one of the most influential songwriters of our time” and, in 2012, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Clara Wieck Schumann
Clara Wieck Schumann was born in 1819 and spent 61 years of her life as a concert pianist. The wife of famed composer Robert Schumann, Clara was instrumental in bringing her husband’s important work to light after his early death at the age of 46. She is credited with forever altering the expectations of piano concert audiences, as she was one of the first performers to ever play from memory. She was also the first to ever perform the works of Johannes Brahms in concert. A true visionary!
Debbie Harry
You can’t get much cooler than Debbie Harry. In addition to being the lead singer of the band Blondie — and therefore one of the pioneering voices in punk rock — Harry was also a prolific actress with 60 film roles and many TV cameos under her belt. She is sometimes even considered the first rapper to score a No. 1 hit, thanks to the popularity of her chart-topper “Rapture.” Harry is widely recognized as one of the most important women in rock music history.
Dolly Parton
Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? One of 12 children born to a dirt-poor tobacco farmer in a one-room cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton is a true rags-to-riches story if ever there was one. To date, Parton — who is still performing and selling out shows — has amassed a whopping 3,000+ songs in her catalog. She is considered the most successful female country artist in history and is second only to Beyoncé in number of Grammy noms. To Parton’s credit, though, she has the unique honor of being nominated in four major award categories: Grammy, Emmy, Oscar and Tony.
Donna Summer
The world simply wouldn’t have been the same without Donna Summer. Dubbed the Queen of Disco, Summer shot to superstardom in the ’70s with iconic classics like “Bad Girls,” “Hot Stuff” and “Last Dance.” She wasn’t done there, though. In the ’80s, she gifted us with “This Time I Know It’s for Real” and the anthemic “She Works Hard for the Money.” Summer is credited with definining the dance music era of the ’70s as well as paving the way for the modern dance music era.
Janis Joplin
Known as much for her performing style as for her distinctive raspy voice, Janis Joplin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. With iconic hits like “Down on Me,” “Summertime,” “Piece of My Heart,” “Ball ‘n Chain,” “Maybe,” “To Love Somebody,” “Cry Baby,” “Mercedes Benz” and the unforgettable “Me and Bobby McGee,” Joplin remains one of the top-selling musicians in the United States to this day.
Joan Jett
Although she is arguably best known for the classic hit “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Joan Jett (and her band, the Blackhearts) had a bevy of other well-regarded singles, including “Crimson and Clover,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” “Light of Day,” “Love is All Around,” “Do You Wanna Touch Me” and “Bad Reputation.” She is regarded by some as the Queen of Rock as well as the Godmother of Punk, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
Joni Mitchell
Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has earned the adoration and respect of fans, critics and fellow musicians during her many decades in the music industry. Hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the greatest songwriters ever,” Mitchell has influenced musicians from an impressive spectrum of genres. Some critics even go so far as to laud the “A Case of You” singer as the most important recording artist of the late 20th century.
Kelly Clarkson
As the original American Idol, Kelly Clarkson ushered in a new era in pop culture by proving that legitimate musical talent could come from the reality TV arena. In the time since she made her Idol debut, Clarkson has garnered tons of accolades, including three Grammys and 98 Billboard No. 1 hits. She has landed on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music list, and Billboard crowned her the 14th best-selling artist of the 2000s.
Ella Fitzgerald
Known affectionately as the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald enjoyed a long and successful career as an American jazz singer — undoubtedly one of the most widely acclaimed and well known in history. Some of Fitzgerald’s top hits came from collaborations with other legendary jazz and blues musicians like Louis Armstrong (“Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Cheek to Cheek”) and The Ink Spots (“Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”). Fitzgerald’s achievements include 14 Grammys, a National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells made history in 1952 when she landed her first hit, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” and became the first female country artist to ever top the U.S. country charts. Subsequently, Wells became the very first bona fide female country star, breaking down barriers in a genre historically considered to be an old boys’ club. In 1991, she was only the third country music artist in history to achieve the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and, at 92 years old today, she is the oldest living member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Wendy “Lady B” Clark
In Philadelphia in 1979, a young woman by the name of Wendy “Lady B” Clark began playing and promoting hip-hop records on a local AM radio station. Later that year, Clark became one of the first ever female artists to release a rap single with “To the Beat Y’all.” For her contribution to R&B and to hip-hop history as a whole, Lady B was honored with the Philly Urban Legend Award in 2002. Accordingly, many consider her to be the First Woman of Hip-Hop.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga’s influence isn’t simply a matter of her being one of the best-selling musicians of all time — which, with more than 146 million single sales, is admittedly pretty darn impressive — but also one of showmanship. Gaga changed the game when she burst onto the scene with superdramatic performances and a complex persona. Her many, many accolades include six Grammys, an Emmy, 12 Guinness World Records and several “icon” awards. In 2015, she was Billboard’s Woman of the Year. She notably channels her influence into her philanthrophic foundation, Born This Way.
Loretta Lynn
The daugher of a coal miner, Loretta Lynn overcame poverty to become one of the first truly successful female country music vocalists. During her rise to prominence in the ’60s, she broke new ground for women in music — particularly in her genre, of which she reamains the most awarded female recording artist. At 82, Lynn’s prolific career has spanned more than six decades and earned her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Crystal Milestone from the Academy of Country Music and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Madonna
When Madonna burst onto the scene in the ’70s, this “Queen of Pop” became a total game-changer. She pushed the boundaries of what was appropriate culturally and musically, and it earned her the icon status that endures today. For selling in excess of 300 million records worldwide, Madonna is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records. She is also the top touring female artist of all time.
Marian Anderson
A classical musician, Marian Anderson is largely hailed as one of the most important artists of the first half of the 20th century. Not only was she the first black musician to perform at the Metropolitan Opera (in 1955), but she was also a passionate advocate for racial equality. Memorably, she was denied the right to sing in D.C.’s DAR Constitution Hall in 1939 because of her race. In response, then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution, threw an outdoor concert for 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial and personally asked Anderson to lend her vocal talent.
MC Lyte
If you’re looking for a pioneering voice in hip-hop — and, particularly, a feminist hip-hop pioneer — look no further than MC Lyte (born Lana Michelle Moorer). Lyte first gained fame in the late ’80s, when she became the first solo female rapper to release a full-length album with 1988’s critically acclaimed “Lyte as a Rock.”
Stevie Nicks
Known as the Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll, Stevie Nicks first gained fame in the ’70s when she joined the rock band Fleetwood Mac with her romantic partner Lindsey Buckingham. That gig got her inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Nicks also went on to enjoy one of the most successful solo careers of any woman in rock. Rolling Stone has dubbed her one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Wanda Jackson
Wanda Jackson’s distinctive mix of fast-moving rockabilly and country music was unlike anything the music world had heard when she made her debut in the mid-’50s. As such, she has become known as the Queen of Rockabilly or the First Lady of Rockabilly, and rightfully so — during her early career years, Jackson often shared the stage with none other than Elvis Presley. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 and, at 78, this feisty lady is still rockin’ today.
Taylor Swift
It’s Taylor Swift, y’all. At only 14, this chick moved to Nashville to pursue her dream of being a country artist and was soon catapulted into the kind of superstardom she likely never imagined possible. Swift has 10 Grammys, an Emmy, 22 Billboard Music Awards, a Brit Award, a metric ton of country music awards and so much more to her credit — and she’s only 26.
Tina Turner
One of the best-selling music artists (male or female) of all time, Tina Turner is a straight-up icon. With 11 Grammy Awards and more concert tickets sold than any other solo performer in history to date, she is undoubtedly one of the the most successful female rock and roll artists ever. Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and, at 76, she’s still got those killer gams!
Whitney Houston
Has any female artist in music history captured the hearts of the American public quite like Whitney Houston? Not only did this powerhouse vocalist have one of the most affecting voices to ever grace pop music, but she also won favor for her mesmerizing performance style. She is one of the most awarded female musicians of all time as well as one of the best-selling music artists period. Before her tragic and untimely death at the age of 48, Houston had already become the only artist to ever chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits.
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