Where are the british female singers?
 

Why are there so few british female singers/musicians? I have been thinking about this for a days now.

I thought of P.J. Harvey, Annie Lennox, Kate Bush. And then Spice Girls, Sugababes. And Elastica, Echobelly.

But where is the british Suzanne Vega, Joan Baez, Karen Carpenter, Joni Mitchel, Courtney Love, Kim Gordon, Laurie Anderson, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Christina Aquilera, Billie Holiday?

Great Britain produced some of the finest music ever (Beatles, Stones, Bowie, Queen, Smiths, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays), but it's all men. Where are the ladies???

It's a very good question actually. I'd never really considered it before. You forgot Sleeper, but it's a bit grabbing at straws.

We've got Lady Sov, MIA and you won't find a city without its fair share of Annie diShit-o alikes. There's plenty of the stuff you're asking for, but most of it is pretty marginal and not very good. In terms of local scenes, I can think of loads of the sort of ladies you're after, but no-one of any substance. Still, we have got MIA, and she's better than everyone else (apart from Diamanda, obviously).

There's loads of British female singers, but they're all doing middle-of-the-road singer-songwriter stuff. I wouldn't say there's been any period when there's been a lot of good female fronted bands since the late eighties.

I wondered if it had anything to do with America's obsession with political correctness and emancipation movements, but I don't believe that's the answer.

MIA is great.

There's these bands: http://www.ladyfestnewcastle.co.uk/line_up/

if you're counting past artists like the beatles and karen carpenter then don't forget the raincoats, the slits, siouxsie, x-ray specs, etc, etc

or... eh, julie andrews, vera lynn and charlotte church.:D

what'sherface from fairport convention, marianne faithfull, shirley collins, there have been a number of notable mixed gender bands from the uk such as my bloody valentine, stereolab, the delgadoes, the pastels, the vaselines, belle & sebastian, the delgados, urusei yatsura, the marine girls, daisy chainsaw, pentangle, lush, vibracathedral, bolt thrower, throbbing gristle, where th' faith healers mixed? quickspace certainly were. there's also mira calix, neotropic, coleen, shystie...

also, broadcast, beth gibbons, the one who sang with tricky, kaffe matthews

PJ harvey is lovely, i am waiting for her to release another album.

Anne Briggs, Shirley and Dolly Collins, the Watersons, Mellow Candle, Midwinter, Axe.
Look to UK folk and folk-rock, and you will find an enormous amount of talent from the ladies.

her dad, not her husband. her husband was john dunbar.

mick jagger might also ring a bell, but she wasn't married to him.

What about Lush?

I don't think they're around anymore...their drummer killed himself, things like that tend to make bands break up...

Mira Calix (Mrs. Autechre) is South African. She is pretty fantastic though.

Bolt Thrower? You slipped that one in there thinking nobody would notice?

mira calix is not british,i think.

I just said that. Have you got me on ignore again? Was it all the punk threads?

Ops!Sorry spookie i hadn't read your post yet.

OK!And i've just apologized.:rolleyes:

The band Howling Bells is described as “The sound of PJ Harvey hitching a ride with the Velvet Underground through Twin Peaks.”
You might like them.

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i know she's south african, but i was granting her honorary status because she owes her recognition to being in the UK