5 Of The Most Beautiful Voices In Soft Rock History

A huge part of the soft rock equation is the voice that tackles the tune. There's plenty of room for grit and gravel, as Kim Carnes and Don Henley can attest. But this genre lets beautiful voices shine their brightest, unapologetically sweet and serene, and unafraid to lean into emotion. It's how popular music arrived at some of the most soaring ballads and comforting soft-rock bops ever recorded.

What constitutes a beautiful voice is highly subjective, of course. But we think a few are hard for any music fan to argue with. The magnificent range of Barbra Streisand, the heartbreaking sweetness of Karen Carpenter, and the bombastic power of Celine Dion — these and others capture the purest heart of the soft rock experience. We've rounded up our five picks for the most honey-throated crooners in soft rock history. They may be figures from a bygone era, but the vocal magic they created transcends time and space—and streaming platforms.

Canadian singer-songwriter Anne Murray made her mark on the soft rock imprint starting in the early '70s. She was a song stylist who interpreted other songwriters' work, adding layers of elegant feeling to tunes that didn't always start out as soft rock selections. 

Her take on the Loggins and Messina modern lullaby-love tune "Danny's Song" was dreamy, and her cover of the disarmingly happy soft rock classic "Daydream Believer" — written by folk-rocker John Stewart and recorded by the Monkees, who made it a four-week No. 1 smash — became a crossover hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Her sole No. 1 hit, the achingly lovely "You Needed Me," stretched her range and showed how deft her vocals could be.

What distinguished Murray from the other soft rock singers of the day was her warm alto; she could soothe without becoming saccharine. She could appeal as much to country fans as to soft rock lovers, finding common ground with a sound that didn't feel affected or contrived. In short, Murray was a grown-up voice for a grown-up musical format. For her beautiful vocal work, the singer won countless awards in both America and her native Canada (collecting more Juno awards than any other artist) throughout the '70s, '80s, and into the 21^st century, becoming one of the major voices of soft rock's heyday.

With her sweet tone, affable personality, and world-class drumming talent, Karen Carpenter set trends in soft rock. She and her brother Richard recorded and performed globally as the Carpenters, led by Karen's silken voice. 

Her pitch and clarity let her glide between notes without missing a beat, turning No. 1 singles like "Close to You" and "Top of the World" into modern American standards in the '70s. Carpenter could also make her voice sprightly and joyous, as on the duo's cover of "Please Mr. Postman," another chart-topper, or dark and tragic, as in her haunting performance on their No. 2 smash "Superstar." Her effortless mix of upper- and lower-register work made the most of her range. Carpenter's unrivaled contralto helped 12 songs reach the Billboard Top 10 and 15 No. 1 adult contemporary hits.

By the late-'70s, a solo album to kick off Carpenter's stand-alone career was in the works. However, in 1983, she succumbed to heart failure at age 32, following a long struggle with anorexia. The album was shelved until 1996, when its bittersweet posthumous release revealed a more mature version of the sound she and Richard had created. She left behind a premium catalog of songs that still break hearts and instill hope, thanks to a singular vocal instrument no soft rock singer has ever been able to replicate.

He may not have gotten many opportunities to use it, but Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit revealed a heavenly voice when he led the band to No. 8 with their 1979 hit "I Can't Tell You Why," which he also wrote. During their 1994 reunion, Schmit took the mic for their Grammy-nominated comeback single, "Love Will Keep Us Alive," recorded live for their MTV "Hell Freezes Over" special. Singing in a sweeter register than the band's better-known vocalists, Schmit's high tenor lent the band's slower tunes an aching R&B flavor that expanded their sound.

Before joining the Eagles, Schmit also played bass for soft rock unit Poco, led the angelic harmonies on one of the band's earliest hits, "Keep on Tryin'," and became a studio backing vocalist, sharing his mesmerizing vocals on a series of solo albums. 

You've undoubtedly heard his wide-ranging work as a background vocalist, adding his beautiful yacht rock voice to genre hits such as "Southern Cross" for Crosby, Stills, and Nash; "Look What You've Done to Me" for Boz Scaggs; "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" for Steely Dan; and "Fire Lake" for Bob Seger, among many others. He even strummed guitar and sang along at the end of Toto's ever-popular "Africa," earning him a soft-rock pedigree few other singers can claim.

Possibly the queen of all soft rock singers, multi-Grammy winner and near-EGOT icon Barbra Streisand set an almost impossible benchmark with her impeccable voice when she hit the soft rock circuit. 

She had a stunning five-octave range that could shift from full-throttle power to a whisper. She earned a strong reception for early songs like "People" and "He Touched Me" before becoming the soft-rock gold standard in the '70s. Her masterful performances of her No. 1 hits "The Way We Were" and "Evergreen (Love theme from A Star Is Born)" made her the decade's cinema love-theme leader, both songs from films Streisand also starred in.

As her star rose as both a singer and an actress, Streisand's voice became even richer. She duetted with fellow soft rock legends Neil Diamond and Barry Gibb on songs that soared into the top five. Her singing was orchestral, replicating flute-like high passages and summoning reedy low notes. Part of the magic lay in her musical choices; she interpreted everything from standards and show tunes to contemporary hits and funk, and even threw in a chart-topping disco hit.

If any singer has a voice beautiful enough to stand mic-to-mic with Streisand and Karen Carpenter, it's Celine Dion. A child star in her native Quebec, Dion's powerhouse vocals hit the American charts in 1990 with the belter "Where Does My Heart Beat Now?" The power ballad reminded the world that soft rock could be bodacious and brim with emotional, whisper-and-soar vocals. Soon, Dion had captured soft rock fans' attention, rolling out No. 1 hits like "The Power of Love" and "I'm Your Angel."

As Streisand did before her, the five-time Grammy-winning Dion also staked her claim on the movie love theme market, sending "Because You Loved Me" from the Michelle Pfeiffer film "Up Close & Personal" and her signature song, "My Heart Will Go On," from "Titanic" into the No. 1 spot. 

"Beauty and the Beast," her top 10 duet with Peabo Bryson from the uber-successful Disney film, picked up an Oscar, while a duet cover of "When I Fall in Love" from "Sleepless in Seattle" hit No. 23. Her No. 2 power ballad "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" also demonstrated the power of her generational voice.