The New Issue of Rolling Stone: The 100 Greatest Singers

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AC/DC step aside to make way for Aretha Franklin, the top-ranked vocalist in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time. Joining Franklin on other covers — hitting newsstands today — are John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. Click below for the full list of singers and thoughts on the greats from Bono, Robert Plant, Mary J. Blige and a host of others. Also check out the gallery of behind-the-scenes photos of some of the greats like Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and Roger Daltrey in the studio. And before you get all bent out of shape over who's on top and who didn't rank, check out how the voting worked right here.

• The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time
• What Makes a Great Singer? By Jonathan Lethem
• Gallery: In the Studio With the Greatest Singers of All Time
• Behind the Ballots: Handwritten Picks From Springsteen, Richards, Love and More

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  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
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  MOVIES 'This Is the End' Brings the Goods
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  TV The Women of 'Mad Men'
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  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Thirteen”

Big Star | 1972

Alex Chilton chose to write about the innocence of young love instead of pent-up frustration for this ballad, which he titled after the age of the protagonists. However, Chilton admitted he was not happy with how the song turned out. "I think the performance of it on the record is bad. Just the singing really is … it's the wrong sort of approach, but at that time I didn't really know how to make the voice sounds in the studio that I wanted to do; it was a year or two later when I figured that out." When Chilton was at the age of 13, he experienced a life-changing occurrence -- the Beatles' landmark appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

More Song Stories entries »

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