Soul: Female Voices

An Essentials list packed with the all-time greatest female soul singers? Put it this way: If you fancy singing along in the shower, you'd better be good, because Aretha Franklin — oh yes, she is the Queen of Soul — leads the way with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", closely followed by the blue-eyed brilliance of Dusty Springfield ("Son of A Preacher Man"), and Dionne Warwick, with her first hit single (and first collaboration with Bacharach & David), "Don't Make Me Over".

British soul, Muscle Shoals, and more . . . it's all in Next Steps.

Mica Paris spells out the fundamental appeal of these tracks when she affirms "Nothing Hits Your Heart Like Soul Music" but there's much more going on here: Laura Lee balances that sweet Muscle Shoals sound against something altogether more savoury on "Dirty Man", Mary Wells — the first female Motown star — gives her sisters a sound piece of advice with "Shop Around", and Minnie Riperton unleashes a good portion of that famed five-and-a-half octave vocal range on "Perfect Angel".

Short on hits but legendary still . . . discover the soul women who deserved more, in Deep Cuts.

Inexplicably, Maxine Brown never had that many hits, but she remains one of the greatest soul voices of the '60s: if you're stumbling upon "Funny" for the first time, enjoy. Betty Everett was best known for "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" but she also scored with "I Can't Hear You – No More" and Tammi Terrell — known for her duet work with Marvin Gaye and her relationship with James Brown — took the spotlight with "My Heart".

It's almost too intense — so many great women of soul in one place, at one time, opening up, baring their hearts, and belting out tunes that simply defy time. But the closer we listen, the more we get to appreciate the inimitable textures and inflections that set all these artists apart from one another. Chances are, you'll identify plenty of them purely on the evidence of the first three notes they sing, but hopefully you'll discover a couple of new voices and some whose once-stellar reputations have been buried by the years. From the stars of early Motown to the divas of the '00s, our Essentials list captures the full range of soul's female trailblazers.