From Elvis to Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna and many others, music has definitely been around in everyone's lives at some point or another. Its quite diverse, with a long range of artists, genres, instruments, and techniques used to offer the auditory experience. It calms us down, motivates, encourages, empowers, and gives us some feeling in our everyday lives. Knowing the unparalleled influence of music, I'd like to know who stands out to you the most clearly.

Who's your favorite musician and why? What do you like about them and their music? My favorite was obviously Michael Jackson. Please share your thoughts. Thank you.

There's no way I can just pick one, there's so many...

I suppose currently... I might have to say Hopsin. He's an anti-rap rapper that raps about the problems people have and the current state of mainstream rap. In a bunch of his songs, he starts off saying he hates rap, and that he doesn't have a favorite rapper, because they all suck. XD

If you see his interviews though, he does respect some rappers, like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar.

He also trashes Lil Wayne (And rightly so, even though I like him a person, he's a garbage rapper. XD) all the time. He has a song called 'No Words', that is just that, he doesn't say any real words, but that's how quite a few "musicians" make songs. I though about linking the song, but the intro and outro has a bunch of cursing, but the song itself, is just auto-tuned gibberish, it really is an amazing parody.

He also calls out rappers by name, and makes fun of them. All while actually being a good rapper himself. No joke, his song '5', is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. He gets very passionate about he sings about, and he produces just about everything himself. Check him out if you like rap songs that aren't about money, girls, and alcohol.

I also really like musicians that can have funny songs, but also has a serious message. Like Trevor Moore (From the Whitest Kids You Know), and stand up comedian Bo Burnham.

I also really like Lil Dicky, he's a really good rapper, but he makes funny raps. He does a 5 minute rap about the movie 'The Lion King', and it's hilarious. He does curse quite a bit though, so if you aren't a fan of cursing... Then yeah.

And tons of others, I told you I couldn't just talk about one musician. But this is long enough. XD

P.S. Also Matisyahu. I love him, so much.

If we're just picking single people I will have to go with Lindsey Stirling. She is a violinist and she is amazing. I've been to a concert, got signed CD's and a book, all because I love her music. She's worked with a bunch of well known guys as well, like Pentatonix.

Her music is just music to my ears.


The only other single musician that I like is Matthias, his songs are great though I'm not sure if he sings anymore.

My favorite musical artist is Kendrick Lamar. This man's music tells a story, sends a message and provides a positive light to the negative situations he's faced in his life.

His lyricism is insane, his words are honest, and his voice is incredibly smooth.

Give the song M.A.A.D. City a listen. He talks of his upbringing in a corrupt city, why he can't agree with the violence he was raised around, and seeing his best friend kill a man. It's a scary reality that gets brought to life through this song.

And if you aren't looking for a tale of violence and corruption, the songs i and Alright are some of the most compellingly positive songs in this day and age, with choruses between "We gon be alright." to "I love myself", they again provide these interesting views into his life that show his experiences and how the people of the rap profession boast trivial things like women or money while he's pushing these ideas of morality and self esteem. If you have an ear for lyrics, its a lot more than gangster rap.

The instrumentation and jazzy feeling of his music adds an extra touch of class to his work. The themes he discusses touch into his community and his friends, and how the world needs to be a better place so the youth can live better lives.

He's brilliant. To anybody that doesn't like rap music or what new rap music has become, Kendrick Lamar is your answer.

 There are just so many, it's hard for me to pick just one. In Rock, it would have to be Elvis Presley. In Pop, Michael Jackson. In country, Kenny Rogers, in Heavy Metal, Guns n Roses and in Rap, which I don't like a whole lot, I'd have to pick MC Hammer. Others deserve so much mention, that it's hard for me to list them all, but I'll try.

Dolly Parton
Whitney Houston
Gordon Lightfoot
James Taylor
Otis Redding
Patti LaBelle
Michael McDonald
Bread
Heart
Led Zeppelin
The Moody Blues
Procol Harum
REO Speedwagon
Journey
Def Leppard
Van Halen
Metallica
Annie Lennox
Roberta Flack
Nat King Cole
Christopher Cross
Louis Armstrong
Marvin Gaye
Teddy Pendergrass
Aretha Franklin
Billy Joel
Elton John
Willie Nelson
Waylon Jennings
Bruce Springsteen
Tina Turner
George Michael


I'm tired and can't go on, needless to say, I got a ton more, but don't have time to list, right now.

LordGaldan : For such a long list, I find your lack of Dylan disturbing.

I think it would be to hard to just say one favorite musician.

But for starter I would say the bands I remember my father showed me when I was younger and growing up to the man I'm are today
Metallica
AC/DC
Iron Maiden
And some Norwegian artist that also most be mention. Most of you have not heard about them I think

But Metallica, AC/DC and Iron Maiden is the three I never get tired of to listen on. Seen Iron Maiden and AC/DC live. The last one with my fiancé that made the whole experience so much better. At least these three that defies my childhood and still listen to this day and enjoy it just as much as I did when I was younger

 

Just added a couple more to my list, I love both Pentatonix and Twenty One Pilots now.

I'm not entirely sure if this counts, but I would have to say zohar002 on YouTube. He's a pianist and does arrangements of classic video game songs. Or at least, he was... No one's heard anything out of him in almost a decade. Basically disappeared off the face of the earth. Here's a few links to his videos. I can't really list what I think his best work is because it would be most of his videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGPVMl6IbSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSgst7Pq7w4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HllRJW6_R-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th4IEj8iTM8

No attempt I could make to use words to describe his playing would do it justice.

By far, Jean Michel Jarre. He's the father of electronic music, and has forty years of career behind him. His music is celestial, it infuses good vibes into the darkest of days. I can't wait to attend his latest live performance two weeks from now.

On another point of view, we have Scooter. Over 20 years making the finest techno music, and they keep going strong. Their style is very unique, and I absolutely love it. Together with Jarre, the only other live performance I've ever attended.

And finally, my darkest of sides has a soft spot for several artists of the Gabber genre. Angerfist, Evil Activities, Miss K8, Korsakoff, Nitrogenetics... The list goes on and on. I just can't control myself when listening to them, they infuse me more energy than I can handle.

While they had such a short life, I should also mention Nightcore. They made such a big impact on society that, to this day, many youtubers are (trying to) pay tribute to them. Just search Nightcore on Youtube and you'll see the impact they caused, though not all of them actually know how to make actual Nightcore. Maikel6311 is the best reference when it comes to this genre, I have over 40 songs nightcored by him.

To many to list ones such as Elton john. One new guy for me would be called jagz he is a pianist. And works on amazing cover songs with the unique music that he plays alongside of it. There are others. But I won't say it. Because the people who have posted here has said them. So there is no need too. I tend to listen to jagz a lot more often now. Because of the way his music draws me and have me to keep on putting it on repeat as well. XD

Um, does Yoko Shimomura count? I loved the music she did for all the kingdom hearts games and her arrangements in other games. She also did a lot of Mana games and stuff, so that's cool too. My dad doesn't think videogame music should count but the music for modern games is more of something akin to a movie score and should really count. I don't like a lot of actual music so... I hope that counts.

Just like most everyone else here, it is hard to just pick one artist above all the rest when it comes to music. Marshall Mathers (a.k.a. Eminem) is generally the most listened to on my playlist, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is a better artist than the rest. However, their is one standard that stands out for some of the artists I listen to that points them out.
 
For starters, Eminem was never really a family kid in his childhood, so he puts his young life into his music, so I respect him for that. Secondly, Michael Jackson, unlike any other artists I can think of right now, loved the planet enough to write a poem and publish it to the public, along with a song and music video as well.
 
Another artist that sticks out in terms of life-to-song terms would be Tupac Shakur, for many reasons, actually. 
Firstly, his last name has the perfect meaning for him, as "Shakur", in Arabic origin, means "thankful" or "appreciative", and Tupac was definitely thankful for his fortunate life, and was grateful for the opportunities that were introduced to him.
Secondly, he was Christian in and out of his songs, as he passively thanks God on many occasions. Being a Christian myself, that somehow makes me respect him a whole lot more...
 
Many artists produce great music, but that doesn't necessarily make them a great artist or a great person. Good people have good opportunities, but great people carry out those opportunities to the best of their ability. THAT is was I look for in a music artist.

There are so many people I like @.@

Pop - My favorite for Pop music is Bruno mars. His song "Just the way you are" was the first song to ever get stuck in my head, and I have loved his music ever since

Rap - Eminem. I have ben following his music since I first heard the song "The real slim shady" when I was younger. I always tried to rap myself, but I fail so hard.

Dubstep/Tech - Skrillex hands down. Up there with Deadmou5. Again, being one of the first of its kind that I listened to, they were my favortie

Band - Imagine Dragons. I also found their music to be a great beat a lyric to litsen to. In fact, I just got a disc to listen in my car

I can't just pick one. As much as I love music, it's very tough. I can sit here name bands and musicians for hours and just go on about why they are amazing. I will just name a few now, and maybe some more later. More so bands then just 1 musician.
King Diamond: Many of you may not know who he is, if you don't follow heavy metal you definitely won't know who he is. One of the best vocalists ever in metal, I'd put him easily in a top 5 group and that is very tough to do. He was vocalist of the black metal band Mercyful Fate, and then now has his own band King Diamond. Great horror heavy metal. The high falsetto vocals that he has are just amazing, along with the deep sounds of evil too. The concerts are very theatrical, with satanic themes, etc. But so very well done, tells a story as well. The whole band is just very solid. Here is one of my favorite songs.



Metal Church: Great heavy/thrash/power metal mix from Washington State. Seen them live in February and it was amazing. Been a fan since I was 14 or so, and to finally see them was an amazing night, especially being pretty much front row. Of course the band has went through some singers over the years, the 2 most notable vocalists are David Wayne and Mike Howe. David Wayne unfortunately passed on from complications from injuries suffered in a car accident, but in the 90's was replaced by Mike Howe. Howe left the band in the mid 90's, and Wayne came back, then Wayne left the band and Ronny Munroe stepped in. Now Mike Howe is back in the band and has never missed a beat at all. Kurdt Vanderhoof the guitarist is great, and really the only original member of the band, but the current line up is just a tight group and playing solid heavy metal. Below are a few songs, one from the latest album XI, and one of my favorites from the David Wayne era.

No Tomorrow:


Start The Fire:


Hell: I first found out about this band a handful of years ago while watching some live concert footage of the Black Metal band Venom, and this band confused the hell out of me at first. I seen the screen cap, and I thought, what the hell is this? So I gave it a watch, and wow this band is awesome. They are a New Wave of British Heavy Metal Band, and they only have 2 albums out, but have been around for many years. Although the original singer David Halliday took his own life after the band split because the record label they joined collapsed. They reunited in 2010 and brought in vocalist David Bower. Bower is a stage and TV actor from the UK who goes by the professional name David Beckford. His brother Kevin is also in the band Hell. I'd almost put this band in my top 5 favorite heavy metal bands, just great music, a little theatrical when it comes to them playing live.

Darkhangel:


Those are three bands I figure I would add, all three bands have great musicians. I will add more later on in this thread.

I have so many favorite musicians that it's impossible to list them all, but I do enjoy the music that Joe Hisaishi and Nobuo Uematsu composed. If you're talking about a singer though, I love the music by Teresa Teng. XD

Two years ago I'd have said Michael Jackson, without hesitation. While I still like him, I can't call him my favourite anymore. That would be either David Byrne (with Talking Heads) or Trevor Something,

Talking Heads is a recent obsession of mine. Of course I heard and loved Once in a Lifetime but then I heard Psycho Killer. I got to thinking, "man, this is deep stuff". Fear of Music, Remain in Light, More Songs About Buildings and Food..... so many great albums.

Trevor Something is a bit on the obscure side and I would have never have known about him without Hotline Miami 2. Really that game got me into all of synthwave, but Trevor especially with his chillaxing sound and intense lyrics.

Ultrajeff :   There are too many to list.  It's not possible for me to have a favorite.  Anything from Les Miserable is wonderful.  Slayer, Morbid Angel, Pantera, Deicide, Rotting Christ.  Journey, Toto, Queen for when I am feeling nostalgic. Dragonforce is insane guitar as is Yngwie Malmsteen.  Black Label Society, God Dethroned, Cannibal Corpse.  I loved the Avatar soundtrack.  All Four One, Boys To Men.  Garth Brooks, John Michael Montgomery, Tim Mcgraw.  Lord Belial, Hecate Enthroned, Dio, Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engaged.  Really, I like all music in general.  I personally do not consider rap to be music, therefore I do not listen to it except when it is on at work.  I could go on and on about why I like what I like, but I just appreciate what some of these people can do both vocally and technically

lordbelial669 : Morbid Angel is great, although the later stuff has been really lackluster, the early stuff is some of the most amazing death metal. Also Yngwie Malmsteen is great. A lot of people don't care for him because he is egotistical, but he can back it up playing guitar. I just wish he would either bring back a past singer, or call up Tim "Ripper" Owens because his vocals are not cutting it on the later albums.

HeavyMetalGamer :   I really didn't like anything after their Formulas Fatal to the Flesh album.  Same with Slayer and Pantera.  Slayer lost it after God Hates Us All album, and Pantera Lost it after Great Southern Trend Kill.  It really sucks when really good bands lose what they once had.  I guess you can only do so much before you run out of options and things you have already tried, or someone else has already done.  When you are at Yngwie's level, I would not doubt he is very egotistical.  He has been called the best guitar player in the world....ever.  That's a pretty nice accomplishment, and I would let that go to my head as well.  He has some nice teaching videos also, so he has that helpful side too