K D Lang or Joy Williams.

It depends a lot on personal preference to an extent. For me it would be Leona Lewis but I can probably agree that there are many opera singers who have better control and technique for singing than Leona. But that type of style doesn't appeal to me at all.

I have attended many gigs in my lifetime and the best live singer I've ever heard (opera singers excluded) is k d lang. Wonderful voice and personality.

Best singer in the world? Impossible to choose...

Stevie Wonder
Barbra Streisand
Karen Carpenter
Anita Baker
Michael Jackson
Van Morrison
Gladys Knight
Frank Sinatra
Gary Clark from the defunct Danny Wilson band.

I nominate Stevie Nicks, and Steve Perry.

It's far too subjective to give a definitive answer.

You might say that technically, Kathrine Jenkins has a fine voice, yet to me it's like a mixture of cats fighting and nails being scraped down a blackboard. Mariah Carey is simply ridiculous.

I love Brian Eno's vocals, but by no stretch of the imagination would you class him as the "best singer in the world" – similarly with other quirky singers such as Robert Smith.

Expressive singers with character and individuality can be poor technically, yet still widely loved – take Bob Dylan, for example. Peter Gabriel is another strange example; it's often difficult to tell whether he is actually singing or simply shouting in vaguely the right key. I'd still rather listen to him than Bing Crosby any day.