Bruce Springsteen’s 20 favourite singers of all time
When it comes to the music business, there’s nothing that Bruce Springsteen could tell us that we wouldn’t take as gospel. The man they call ‘The Boss’ isn’t just a sincere and soulful songwriter who has consistently stayed at the top of the tree for several decades; he’s also a music aficionado.
Despite having a trademark sound that he’s rarely deviated from, Springsteen’s music taste is eclectic. Admittedly, his records sound unmistakably like Bruce Springsteen, but he loves all types of sonic structures that have helped soundtrack his life. Never shy to praise his contemporaries or those who have come before him, Springsteen has led his life like an open book, dishing out opinions whenever needed.
This is evident when Springsteen delivered a keynote speech at SXSW in 2012 or any other time he’s been allowed to wax lyrical about his favourite topic; music is everything to Springsteen. Although Forbes declared him a billionaire in 2024, he’d no doubt be rocking out in dingy New Jersey bars even if he never acquired fame or fortune.
When Rolling Stone came knocking in 2008 for their all-encompassing list of the greatest 100 singers of all time, ‘The Boss’ was more than happy to contribute his own list. Sent in as a ballot of 20, Springsteen selects some of the finest vocalists and performers the music world has ever known, and it makes for a seriously inspiring collection of leading lights.
This list is now more than 15 years old, so there may have been a handful of changes during this time. Over recent years, Springsteen has proved that he remains a lover of music, new and old. He stays current with the latest releases, as recent collaborations with Bleachers and Zach Bryan show. Therefore, there’s a possibility that new pop or rock superstars may now creep into his top 20.
Furthermore, it’s also important to mention that we can’t be certain of how these artists were numbered. On the ballot, it ranks them from one to 20, and in all likelihood, they are ranked in order of greatness. Still, Springsteen, a maverick who operates in a unique manner, could have opted for a scattergun approach.
The first name Springsteen etched down onto the ballot box paper was Ray Charles, a mythical music figure requiring no real introduction or explanation. Not only a supremely gifted songwriter, but Charles’ voice was also as smooth as butter and twice as rich. Equally, the same could be said for Springsteen’s next choice, taking the number two spot, Sam Cooke. The late ‘Change is Gonna Come’ singer had a wondrous voice that deserves to be heard on a near-daily basis, and Springsteen’s high praise is a timely reminder to dive headfirst back into his immense back catalogue.
In a change of genre and vocal range, his next pick is the extraordinary talent of Bob Dylan. Likely, Springsteen used a little poetic license with this selection. The title of the piece is Springsteen’s favourite singers, and while Dylan has his moments of vocal virtuosity, there is a lot to be admired from a technical standpoint. Nevertheless, he’s the architect behind many of Springsteen’s favourite records, and that alone warrants a place in the league table.
Before Springsteen became ‘The Boss’, in fact, before he’d even been crowned ‘Employee of the Month’, the singer-songwriter worshipped the ground which Dylan walked upon. When inducting Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, the ‘Born To Run’ singer dotingly recalled the first time he heard Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, which “thrilled and scared” him in equal measure. Nevertheless, the introduction of Dylan into his life sparked a change in Springsteen, and his life was never the same again.
The singer elaborated: “It made me feel kind of irresponsibly innocent. And it still does. But it reached down and touched what little worldliness I think a 15-year-old kid, in high school, in New Jersey had in him at the time.” It’s the kind of feeling that Dylan gave to millions of people across the globe as he connected with an audience through highly personal and expressive folk-pop songs. Additionally, it helped mould the style that Springsteen adopted in his own career.
The next name is another musical legend, John Lennon, which shouldn’t come as a shock to the system. Like many kids in the 1960s, Springsteen was profoundly affected by The Beatles and dreamed of following in their footsteps.
Over the decades, Springsteen has spoken lovingly about The Beatles countless times and performed with Paul McCartney, including at Glastonbury in 2022.
During an appearance on Desert Island Discs, Springsteen said of The Beatles track ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. “This was another song that changed the course of my life. It was a very raucous sounding record when it came out of the radio,” he explained. “It really was the song that inspired me to play rock and roll music — to get a small band and start doing some small gigs around town. It was life-changing. It’s still a beautiful record.”
Elsewhere on the list of 20 is James Brown, a singer Springsteen once described as: “Pure excitement, pure electricity, pure ‘get out of your seat, move your ass’. Pure sweat-filled, gospel-filled raw, rock and roll, rhythm and blues. It’s like a taut rubber band.” Another noted jiver, The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, whose unique style earned him a place on Springsteen’s list.
While the list isn’t required to decipher punk’s influence on Springsteen, it offers further proof. Not only did he name Johnny Rotten, but also The Clash singer Joe Strummer, whom he was a noted fan of. Their mutual admiration lasted until the Clash man’s tragic death in 2002.
Of course, many other singers were on the list, including everyone from Roy Orbison to Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison to Elvis Presley and so on. While there will never be a definitive list of the best 20 singers to ever grace the earth due to its subjective nature, Springsteen gave the impossible task a strong crack with his selection of musical heroes and came damn close.
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