I'm glad Luther made it into the Top 5.
I still wish he had made it a bit higher though.
To me, he is as great a male singer as Mariah is a female singer.
BTW, sorry, I'm just catching up on all the pages I missed.
Not many singers can be credited with starting entire movements. Twenty two years ago, around the time Vision of Love was peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mariah Carey did such a thing. There had been tons of great singers before her - one had just exploded five years earlier, for goodness sakes - but no one had introduced melisma, the unrelenting flurry of runs, riffs, and adlibs, onto national airwaves. By unleashing her five octave range and embellishment of standard notes onto an unsuspecting public, Mariah had unwittingly shaped the directions of hundreds of young women that followed her - three of them, who all made top ten, have directed credited her and/or this song for inspiring them to take their crafts seriously.
But Mariah is more than one song, and, as berberocka notes, more than just that whistle note. A creamy alto base, strong chest notes, a delicious head voice and that unreachable spot proved something unmatchable, as Mariah became, arguably, the definitive voice of the 1990s - for good, bad, and ugly. I couldn't imagine this world without her, and I wouldn't want to.
Mariah deserved it for her vocal performance in "If It's Over," "Vanishing" "Anytime You Need a Friend."
Whitney deserved it for her vocal in "Run to You" "I Have Nothing," "One moment in Time."
Look, Whitney ****s. Really, she does. But
Both females have stellar voices. But when I listen to Mariah's voice, I really FEEL it.
No other voice has that unexplainable effect on me like Mariah's.
Not Whitney's. Not Beyoncé's. No one's.
This is my favorite performance of "Vision of Love." She was so relaxed and comfortable. The improvisation and spontaneity in this performance is so great.