Madonna
Madonna was one of the original divas, which can’t be disputed considering she was a pop star before some on this list were born or had even put out a hit album. From the time Like A Virgin hit the airwaves, she rose up to ride the charts with the best of the them all. She’s had some great albums and even greater hits like Holiday, Material Girl etc, but her 1998 album Ray of Light changed everything. It redefined pop music, it brought electronic music into the mainstream and it gave her a new look, a new avatar and more money in the bank.
Whitney Houston
This amazing performer passed too soon, but when she was alive she was probably the best voice of them all. She could hit the high notes, she could lay down a velvety ballad and she could hold a note until you were weak in the knees. She gave the world a remake of I Will Always Love You, a song many Goan ladies dedicate to their men all the time. She sang I Wanna Dance with Somebody and most men at the time screamed, “Me, me me!” but My Love is Your Love, also released in 1998, brought a hiphop-ish sound to her otherwise lovely R&B aura.
Mariah Carey
When Mariah burst on the scene, every talked about how her high pitch could crack glass. It could. She even went supersonic at her live shows and even in the studio. Check out Emotions for proof. In 1990, Visions of Love made everyone fall in love with her. Her third studio album, Music Box, released in 1993, made everyone bow down to her vocal genius. From Hero to Dreamlover, Without You to All I’ve Ever Wanted, this was a definitive album for Carey.
Janet Jackson
Janet was first known as Michael Jackson’s sister, but a few things changed that. Most of them were in an album called Rhythm Nation 1814, where she blew everyone away. In 1997, she put out The Velvet Rope and its first hit was Gone Til Its Gone, with a sample of Joni Mitchell’s Big Yello Taxi. The innovative sound on this album took R&B to a different level. I Get Lonely, Go Deep, Together Again and Anything are the other picks from this seminal album
Celine Dion
By the time Celine released Falling into You in 1996, she was already a dozen albums old, though most of them were in French. This amazing singer took the English pop world by storm, as did many of her diva peers. But Celine was different. Her control was classically influenced, yet she ran through songs with relative pop ease. She charmed men with just a simple run, she made women fall in love all over again with her soulful ballads. Falling into You is a collection of beautiful songs that defined the 90s. Leaving aside all the others, Because You Loved Me is proof enough of that.
