The Best Male Vocalists in a Band - A feature by Dave Christy and Susan Harris - Part 2 from Susan

At Melanie's Muses, we don't like to discriminate when it comes to music ( Unless its Garth Brooks or Justin Bieber)  so Dave and I got together virtually and compiled a list of our top male vocalists in bands, covering rock, metal, indie music. 

If you missed part one you can check it out here!​

Susan's Picks-

The lead singer of a band is usually the person you see standing front and center, setting the tone for the rest of the group. Dave had some awesome picks last week, so here are my top male vocalists from bands I love. 

Dave Grohl ( Foo Fighters)

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Was there any doubt that I would start with my mate Dave?​
Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a proud member of the church of Grohl and I worship at the altar of Dave, preaching the gospel of the Foo's. Dave started out as a drummer for Nirvana, and after Kurt's death in 1994, he formed the Foo Fighters. 
Its not an easy feat to step out from behind the drum kit and become that lead singer, but Dave has the natural ability and tone to do it. He's just such an epic guy, whether he is belting out The Pretender or just him and a guitar singing My Hero acoustically.
And to be honest, Dave has to be the nicest man in rock and roll which will always make him my number one singer in a band!

Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars)

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There is no doubt that Jared Leto can do it all, but I first fell in love with Jared's voice when I heard the song, The Kill and the album Beautiful lie. I will admit that Emo me was in love with dark haired, Jared from the video but its the way his voice just goes from soft to that powerful high that always gives me goosebumps. 
While I kinda drifted from the band when their music took a more obvious political turn, I still love early 30 Seconds to Mars and Jared's cover of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance is one of my all time fave covers.

Oli Sykes (Bring Me The Horizon)

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When Bring me the Horizon was first formed, they were essentially a pure metalcore group with lots of screaming, but after Oli's stint in rehab, when Oli accepted the band's Album Of The Year award for Sempiternal at the Alternative Press Music Awards in 2014 for the first time, Oli told  the crowd that once he'd left rehab, he "didn't want to scream anymore, he wanted to sing from the fucking rooftops".
And he did. 
The band and Oli himself's sound has transitioned overtime and now, in his vocals, we can hear the pain, the sadness, the grief and the anger in his lyrics. But also, Oli can sing...its not all about the screaming. In Hospital for Souls, Deathbeds, and even more recently when he collabed with Amy Lee of Evanescence on the haunting One Day the only Butterflies Will be in your chest, Oli held his own with the powerhouse that is Amy and it was a duet no one expected.

Josh Franceschi (You Me At Six)

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You Me At Six are a pure example of why you should always go to a gig early and listen to the support act. I went to see Paramore in Dublin and You Me At Six were one of the support acts that I just feel in love with. Josh was still in the award emo hair days but there was no denying his vocal ability.  His tone was angsty, whether he was belting our, You've made your bed, so Sleep In It or Tigers and Sharks from Take off your colors and even over the years as they have matured as a band, with their newest release Suckapunch, where the title track is a rebel rousing song to the impossibly beautiful Glasgow that became the anthem when I wrote Fight Song. 

Conor Mason (Nothing but Thieves)

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Conor Mason is the lead singer of Nothing but Thieves and band I loved even before they managed to bag a deal to record Bonnie Tyler's Holding out for a Hero, for the Vikings season 2 trailer. Back in 2014 I heard the song Graveyard Whistling, I was captivated by Conor's voice, and the power that creeps up on you when you least expect it. Conor is epic live, sounds just like he does on the CD, even if his dad dance moves are a little questionable. If you haven't listened to Nothing But Thieves yet, do yourself and your ears a favor and do it now!

Kelly Jones (Stereophonics)

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Kelly Jones was one of my very first crushes and Performance and Cocktails is still one of my fave albums. It brings me back to days where I was young and the summer was long. That gravely tone coupled with a Welsh accent just hit me harder than any band had done before and perhaps shaped the kind of vocals and songs I liked. But Kelly could do it all, belt out fast paced tunes like The Bartender and the Thief and my all time fave song, Just Looking. 

Chester Bennington (Linkin Park ,Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots)

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 That smile. 
Hybrid Theory is the album I always say saved my life when I was a teenager. It spoke to me on so many levels at that age, putting into words things I was feeling but didn't quite know how to express. It was like poetry to music, and Chester had that unique voice made you pay attention. I remember seeing the music video for Crawling, back when MTV did music videos and immediately went out to buy the CD. I had to order it in from the US because it wasn't appropriate for Irish record stores.
Chester gave a voice to my feelings back when I didn't know how I was feeling myself.
I fell in love with tattoos and rock music because of him.
When Chester died, I cried for the first time over the death of a celebrity, over a musician because I would never get to hear a new song sung by him.
His death hurt, knowing that despite his happy demeanor, he was still haunted by his demons, like the rest of us mere mortals. but he left us with a legacy of songs and I will always be grateful for giving me a voice when I had none.

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​Susan Harris is a writer from Cork, Ireland and when she’s not torturing her readers with heart-wrenching plot twists or killer cliffhangers, she’s probably getting some new book related ink, binging her latest TV or music obsession, or with her nose in a book. She is a proud founding Member of the Muser VIPers and is responsible for Melanie not breaking the Website on an almost daily basis!
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You can check out all her books on Amazon HERE
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