In January 2010, NPR will launch a year-long exploration of 50 great voices in recorded history. The series isn’t an attempt to catalog the so-called “greatest” singers. Instead, we hope to discover and re-discover awe-inspiring vocalists from around the world and across time. We asked you to nominate artists for the series and we received thousands of options. NPR and a panel of experts are in the process of whittling them down to about 100 singers — a mix of familiar names and surprising discoveries.
Explore some of the nominated voices below, choose five favorites you think should be included in the final 50 and tell us why.