Elvis Presley is rock ‘n’ roll. He sang like a dream, he was sexy enough to send girls swooning, and he exuded enough cool not to have the boys resent him. Adults worried about his rebellious nature, but they were eventually comforted by his polite, courteous manner. Yet as perfect as Presley’s 1950s rock recordings are, he excelled at so much: down-home country crooning, raucous R&B belting, enraptured Gospel singing, and classic pop balladeering. Elvis wasn’t a vocal chameleon: these styles seeped out of him naturally, allowing his own personality to shine through. Despite his high level of talent and achievement in his craft, it was Elvis who made rock ‘n’ roll the international language of pop and inspired countless kids around the world to pick up a guitar or step up to a microphone. That said, Elvis didn’t have a faultless career: he starred in plenty of bad movies, sang dozens of lame songs, got fat, and wore a kitschy white suit. But so what? He forever changed pop music, recording acres of perfect material over two short decades. Elvis (deservedly) remains the King.
- Nick Dedina

Want to start a heated debate at any party? Just mention the name Barbra
Streisand. an amazingly gifted vocalist who doesn’t always know when to quit, “Babs”
is one of the few classic pop singers to come of age in the post-Elvis era.
already a great singer, Broadway propelled her to stardom and a highly
successful recording career. alas, the girl who dazzled the nation with her
heartbreakingly sad take on “Happy Days are Here again” (from her 1963 debut)
grew up to be the hurricane that spawned such bombastic storms as Celine Dion
and Mariah Carey. Meanwhile, the streetwise Brooklynite who flirtatiously ate a
carrot like Bugs Bunny in What’s Up Doc aged into the auteur who gave a
supporting role to her fingernails in The Prince of Tides. If the cool
mod chick with the purest pipes since Ella Fitzgerald evolved into an “artiste”
with a questionable perm, at least Babs has always followed her own path. She
remains an american institution who has won Oscars, Grammies, and countless
Emmys and has also become a subcultural icon. Streisand was championed in the
1960s as the first female sex symbol with a shnozola and is now feted by the gay
community.

- Nick Dedina

On the off chance you’ve been living in a self-dug hole since before the new millennium due to Armageddon-related jitters, Celine Dion is not just a diva — she seems to have emerged as a Titan among divas. Since releasing her first English language recording in 1990, she’s managed to give Whitney and Mariah a good scare with her remarkable vocal capabilities, while making everyone all wistful and nostalgic for a ship that sunk eons ago and becoming the first (and only) “New Streisand” to do a duet with the “Old, Original Streisand.” With so many achievements under her belt in so little time, it seems likely that when the day is done, Dion may very well emerge atop the diva heap.
- Kali Holloway

OK, Neil Diamond is an easy target for parody — voice straight outta Brooklyn, bespangled shirt straight outta Vegas. But this ex-Brill Building tunesmith crafted a batch of excellent songs during the 1960s (hits such as “Solitary Man” for himself and “I’m a Believer” for the Monkees) before emerging as a stadium superstar. His bombastic, ubermelodramatic work from the 1970s has earned him an enormous, if aging, female following who feel that Diamond tells them what their tight-lipped, big-bellied husbands never will. Today, a new generation of ironic hipster fans have swelled their ranks. Both these groups know that underneath the florid orchestrations and over-the-top emotion lies the truth. Who doesn’t feel that love can go on the rocks? Who hasn’t experienced a great September morning? Be it a longtime fan in too-snug polyester trousers or a smug 25-year-old in his dad’s leisure suit — both pump their fists in unison during “America.” Neil Diamond, an undeserving nation thanks you for trying to put some feeling (however unsubtle) into our bored, numbed lives.
- Nick Dedina