'Rolling Stone' ranking: Who are Spain's 'greatest singers of all time'?

TWO Spanish singers have made it into Rolling Stone magazine's 200 'greatest of all time' ranking – both of them women, but only one of them still living.

Aretha Franklin, Freddie Mercury, Whitney Houston, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, Prince, and Marvin Gaye are among the ranking that covers 100 years of pop, according to the publication, and which differs considerably from its 2008 ranking of the '100 Greatest Singers of All Time'.

In the latter, 'the results skewed towards classic rock and singers from the 1960s and 1970s', Rolling Stone says, but the late 2022 list, at twice the length, is far more diverse.

“Iconic Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar lands between Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash, and salsa queen Celia Cruz is up there in the rankings with Prince and Marvin Gaye,” it reads.

Aretha Franklin number one; Céline's absence leaves fans fuming

When the ranking was printed, fans of legendary Canadian artist Céline Dion – who has always been equally lauded for her more upbeat songs in her native French as for her heart-rending ballads in English – reacted furiously on social media after she failed to appear in the top 200.

“Keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices list,” Rolling Stone countered, although this comment did little to appease Céline's worldwide followers.

Singers included are modern and classic, alive or not – R&B star Aaliyah, who died in 2001 aged 22, is at number 40, and Nirvana lead voice Kurt Cobain, who died aged 27, is at number 36 – and range from Adele at 22 to Elvis at 17, Nobel Literature Prize winner Bob Dylan at 15, and John Lennon not making the top 10, coming in at 12.

From number 10 upwards are Al Green, Otis Redding, Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.

Aretha Franklin is at number one, described as 'a force of nature' and 'a work of genius', and the top five is completed by Whitney Houston ('the standard-bearer for R&B vocals'), Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday, and Mariah Carey.

Mariachi and Ranchera queen Rocío Dúrcal

One Spanish artist makes the top 150 – soul-pop legend Rocío Dúrcal enters at number 139, ahead of Barbra Streisand (147), half-Ecuadorian Latin pop diva Christina Aguilera (141) and U2's Bono (140).

Born María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz in Madrid, married to Antonio Morales Barreto for 36 years until her death, mum of Shaila, Carmen and Antonio and grandmother to Christian, ended up selling over 40 million records in her lifetime, making her the Spanish female with the most sales in history outside her native country.

Her first album, Las Películas de Rocío Dúrcal ('The Films of Rocío Dúrcal'), was released in 1963, several months before her 19th birthday and, after an average of one per year for the rest of her life, her final album, Alma Ranchera ('Ranchera Soul') was launched by BMG México in 2004, the year she turned 60.

Some of her earlier albums were soundtracks for films she starred in and shared their titles, including Tengo 17 Años ('I'm 17 Years Old') and Acompáñame ('Come With Me'), in 1964 and 1966.

Rocío, who passed away in spring 2006 aged 61 – in the same week and at the same age as another Rocío, the iconic Jurado, both from cancer – is described by Rolling Stone as 'the most Mexican Spaniard'.

“Her soulful renditions of rancheras, arrangements with Mariachi, and lioness-like theatrics during performances made Dúrcal one of the most beloved female artists in Latin America through the '80s and '90s,” the report says.

“Dúrcal had a way of marrying a warm softness of her mezzo soprano with intense, dark belting on career highlights like the gorgeous Juan Gabriel-penned Amor Eterno ['Eternal Love'] or the romantic ballad La Gata Bajo la Lluvia ['The Cat in the Rain'], where the deep passion in her gorgeous runs summons the feeling of longing for a lost loved one like few singers could.”

Rocío Dúrcal earned a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2005, the year before she died, and her daughter Shaila, 44 – who grew up performing alongside her mother on stage – has followed in Rocío's footsteps with a successful music career after launching her first-ever studio album in 2007.

Rosalía: Unknown until 2018 and already a legend at 30

As well as being the first Spanish-language female singer to grace the cover of Rolling Stone – and the most recent, the monthly edition for January 2023 – Catalunya-born flamenco-hip hop sensation Rosalía just manages to squeeze in at the foot of the 'greatest of all time' ranking.

A very commendable achievement for a singer who has only just turned 30, who was completely unheard of until four years ago, and whose multiple award-winning first album was in fact her final-year university project.

El Mal Querer, released in 2018, and her second album Motomami, from 2022, have led to Rosalía's gaining 12 Latin Grammy awards in four years, becoming a magazine cover girl several times, launching a bespoke limited-edition clothing range at a nationally-famous high-street chain, earning world-famous fans ranging from UK comedian James Corden to ex-US president Barack Obama, and helping out Alicia Keys with Spanish pronunciation for a recording.

“When Rosalía sings, it feels as if she's pulling out decades of history from her throat and resurrecting them into thin air,” Rolling Stone says.

“Her vocal tone, the intuitive melismas and rhythmic accents of which were built from training in flamenco for more than a decade, possesses a crystalline nature that in turn awakens emotions deep in the hearts of listeners.

“With her 2018 breakthrough album, El Mal Querer, she started heavily incorporating Auto-Tune – not to mask her voice, but to instead emphasise the nuanced texture of her performance, which fluidly shifts from ferocity to playfulness to sorrow.

“Continuing to bring tradition into a new future, she pushed harder into experimentalism with 2022's Motomami.”