1. Aretha Franklin
   Etta James
2. Janis Ian
   Ella Fitzgerald

Aretha Franklin's career really kicked off in 1966, and she would go on to achieve such fame that she was known as the "Queen of Soul." Franklin performed at the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, as well as President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

1. Maggie Bell
   Cher
2. Marianne Faithful
   Judith Durham

Cher, who was born Cherilyn Sarkisian, achieved her fame alongside Sonny Bono in the 1960s and '70s. Cher went on to have an immensely popular solo career that spanned decades and included a line of dolls. Sonny had a doll too, but fewer people probably wanted that one.

1. Barbra Streisand
   Cher
2. Janis Joplin
   Karen Carpenter

Barbra Streisand has been a dominant force as a singer and an actor for decades now. Her debut role in "Funny Girl" earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress back in 1969.

1. Timi Yuro
   Brenda Lee
2. Joan Baez
   Lorraine Ellison

Joan Baez is one of the most recognizable names of the '60s. She is an icon of folk music, often promoting the use of music for social justice. She also helped Bob Dylan gain some exposure, as the two of them dated for a while back in the day.

1. Janis Joplin
   Barbra Streisand
2. Grace Slick
   Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee achieved fame with songs like "I'm Sorry" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." Though most fans probably had no idea, Lee was only 4 feet 9 inches tall, which is where the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite" came from.

1. Merry Clayton
   Karen Carpenter
2. Mavis Staples
   Carol Deene

Karen Carpenter got her start in music in 1965, performing in a high school band with her brother Richard. She didn't actually sing at the time — she played drums. In 1969, Karen and Richard finally signed a record deal, paving the way for the massive popularity of the Carpenters in the '70s.

1. Vera Lynn
   Joni Mitchell
2. Roberta Flack
   Janis Ian

Joni Mitchell has won numerous Grammy awards in her career, including a lifetime achievement award, and has endured some difficult times to get where she is. In fact, Mitchell contracted polio at the age of 9.

1. Michelle Phillips
   Vikki Carr
2. Diana Ross
   Darlene Love

Diana Ross may have risen to fame with the Supremes, but she really hit her stride with a solo career later in life. There was tension between her and her former bandmates, though. When Ross attended the funeral of Florence Ballard in 1976, some people booed her at the funeral.

1. Diana Ross
   Tina Turner
2. Lesley Gore
   Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick's name is actually Dionne Warrick, but thanks to a typo on her 1962 record "Don't Make Me Over," she was dubbed Warwick. She decided to keep the name for the rest of her career.

1. Grace Slick
   Mary Wells
2. Tina Turner
   Diane Summer

Tina Turner's career has been eclectic and tumultuous over the years. It's also been impressive. In 1988, while performing what was billed as a farewell tour, she broke a world record for ticket sales by selling 184,000 for her show in Rio de Janeiro.

1. Sandy Denny
   Laura Nyro
2. Connie Francis
   Jeannie Riley

Connie Francis may be best known for her song "Who's Sorry Now," but she also made a string of teen movies with a common theme. She starred in "Where the Boys Are," "Follow the Boys" and "When the Boys Meet the Girls."

1. Etta James
   Aretha Franklin
2. Tina Turner
   Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald made her stage debut at the world famous Apollo Theater in 1934 on Amateur Night. She intended to go on stage and dance, but there were so many talented dancers that she opted to sing instead, and it worked out. She took home a $25 prize.

1. Etta James
   Cilla Black
2. Cass Elliot
   Patsy Cline

Cass Elliot, also known as Mama Cass, was one of the members of the extremely popular band the Mamas and the Papas. Elliot was only part of the group for a handful of years before they broke up. She died tragically a few years later of heart failure, at age 32.

1. Evia Sands
   Roberta Flack
2. Petula Clark
   Beverly Bivens

Petula Clark was born Sally Olwen Clark and is most well known for her song "Downtown." Clark was actually from Britain and was sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of the British Invasion."

1. Linda Scott
   Petula Clark
2. Joan Baez
   Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris started her career as a folk singer with some folk-rock leanings. A folk band called the Flying Burrito Brothers introduced her to a friend who needed a female vocalist for a country album, and the rest is history.

1. Tina Turner
   Roberta Flack
2. Dionne Warwick
   Etta James

Etta James is arguably one of the greatest soul and gospel singers of all time. Her song "At Last" was a massive hit, and James was very protective of it. Rumor has it that she got angry when Beyoncé sang it at Barack Obama's inauguration, since it was "her" song.

1. Skeeter Davis
   Joni Mitchell
2. Dusty Springfield
   Shirley Bassey

Dusty Springfield had an iconic look and style that helped propel her to fame, but in her real life, she was not much of a fan of herself. She rarely attended public events like parties and was hypercritical of her own appearance, often comparing herself to actor Burt Lancaster.

1. Joan Baez
   Janis Joplin
2. Joni James
   Sandy Posey

Janis Joplin was her own person, unique in so many ways, but back in her hometown and even through college, other people were cruel to her as a result. She was bullied throughout high school, and at the University of Austin she was even nominated "Ugliest Man on Campus." Luckily, she didn't let the fools who criticized her get in the way of her music.

1. Shirley Bassey
   Evie Sands
2. Sandy Posey
   Anne Murray

Shirley Bassey's career was already going strong in the U.K. when she was tapped to sing "Goldfinger" in 1964 for the new James Bond movie. She'd go on to perform the themes to "Diamonds are Forever" and "Moonraker" as well.

1. Gladys Knight
   Etta James
2. Ella Fitzgerald
   Nina Simone

Gladys Knight began performing with her siblings and cousins, under the name the Pips, as a child. In later life, she achieved immense fame, including numerous Grammy Awards. She is likely most widely recognized for the song "Midnight Train to Georgia."

1. Mary Wells
   Michelle Phillips
2. Cass Elliot
   Vickie Carr

Mary Wells was one of the earliest and biggest Motown acts. Though she had a number of hits, she's probably best remembered for the immensely popular "My Guy." That song was the first Motown track not just to destroy charts in the U.S. but chart overseas as well, hitting No. 5 in the U.K.

1. Grace Slick
   Mary Hopkin
2. Tina Turner
   Shirley Bassey

Grace Slick of the band Jefferson Airplane is famous for a number of songs, but "White Rabbit" may be the most '60s song of the bunch. It is used constantly in period movies to evoke a sense of the drug-fueled psychedelic atmosphere of the decade.

1. Ronnie Spector
   Linda Jones
2. Linda Ronstadt
   Sandie Shaw

Linda Ronstadt started her career in the mid-'60s with the band the Stone Poneys. By 1969 she began her solo career and released an album featuring cover versions of songs by artists like Bob Dylan and Randy Newman.

1. Nina Simone
   Lulu
2. Judy Collins
   Linda Scott

Nina Simone opted to use the stage name she's famous for, in part to hide from her mother. She was performing in Atlantic City and feared her mother would find out, so she used the name Nina, a nickname her boyfriend had given her, and Simone, after actress Simone Signoret.

1. Lesley Gore
   Patsy Cline
2. Petula Clark
   Cilla Black

Patsy Cline had a string of hits in her tragically short career, including "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy." Cline died at the age of 30 in a plane crash, and looters got to the crash scene before authorities, taking many of her personal effects. Luckily a number of items were later returned.

1. Barbra Streisand
   Patsy Cline
2. Petula Clark
   Judy Collins

Judy Collins, famous for songs like "Send in the Clowns" and "Both Sides Now," has devoted much of her life to social activism. She protested the Vietnam War and has long been associated with UNICEF. She has advocated for gun control and the destruction of land mines.

1. Grace Slick
   Lulu
2. Joni Mitchell
   Dusty Springfield

Scottish singer Lulu, who was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, didn't win accolades for just one movie theme, but two. "To Sir With Love" came in 1967, but she also sang the theme to the 1974 James Bond movie "The Man With the Golden Gun."

1. The Paris Sisters
   The Shangri-Las
2. The Blossoms
   The Cookies

The Shangri-Las formed in high school when twin sisters Margie and Mary Ann Ganser teamed up with sisters Mary and Betty Weiss. They're best known for their song "Leader of the Pack," though they did have a few other hits along the way.

1. Connie Francis
   Peggy March
2. Nico
   Diana Ross

Nico's real name was Christa Päffgen. She was born in Germany during World War II. Her family fled Berlin to try to get away from the war, though her father was a soldier with the German army. Nico herself was rumored to be quite racist toward Jewish people and other minorities.

1. The Shirelles
   The Ronettes
2. The Shangri-Las
   The Blossoms

The Shirelles are most well known for songs like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "Mama Said." The band's last big hit was in 1967, but the original group still performed shows together until the early 1980s.

1. Cilla Black
   Lulu
2. Brenda Lee
   Linda Ronstadt

Cilla Black never achieved the same fame in the U.S. that she had in the U.K., but that's not to say she didn't have fame. Her first No. 1 hit, "Anyone Who Had a Heart," sold over a million copies, and her song "You're My World" was on Elvis' jukebox at Graceland.

1. Ronnie Spector
   Linda Jones
2. Skeeter Davis
   Sandie Shaw

Skeeter Davis was a bit of a crossover performer, achieving fame with songs in both the pop and the country genres. Country was definitely where she had her biggest influence, though, with stars like Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette listing her as an influence.

1. Martha and the Vandellas
   The Shirelles
2. The Chiffons
   The Del Tones

Martha and the Vandellas obviously got the Martha part of the name from lead singer Marthe Reeves. But a Vandella? That was a mix of Detroit's Van Dyke Street and Della Reese, of whom Reeves was a fan.

1. Carol Deene
   Laura Nyro
2. Angela Bofill
   Thelma Houston

Singer and songwriter Laura Nyro had a string of hits both on her own and with other singers performing what she had written. Though she had become fairly popular on her own, she retreated from public life in the '70s and '80s, rarely making public appearances of any kind.

1. Wanda Jackson
   Little Peggy March
2. Jackie DeShannon
   Helen Shapiro

Peggy March, often called Little Peggy March since she was only 4 feet 10 inches, had a huge hit with her song "I Will Follow Him." The song was retooled for the movie "Sister Act," in which a choir of nuns sings it about Jesus.

1. Karen Dalton
   Samantha Jones
2. Carole King
   Ella Fitzgerald

Karen Dalton is one of the lesser-known performers of the '60s folk music scene, though she has been listed as an influence by musicians like Nick Cave and Joanna Newsom. She's responsible for popularizing the traditional version of the song "Cotton-Eyed Joe."

1. Maggie Bell
   Anne Murray
2. Cher
   Lesley Gore

Lesley Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones, who was just a low-level music executive at the time. She went on to record several huge hits, including "It's My Party" and "You Don't Own Me," while Jones would become the first African-American vice president of Mercury Records within a year of the two of them meeting.

1. Barbara Lynn
   Billie Davis
2. Kay Starr
   Nancy Sinatra

Barbara Lynn stood out from the crowd — she was an African American woman who wrote her own songs and played lead guitar. Her talent would see her collaborating with many other rock and R&B acts, including Stevie Wonder and B.B. King.

1. The Blossoms
   The Ronettes
2. The Exciters
   The Lovelites

The Blossoms actually recorded "He's a Rebel," but it was credited at the time to the Crystals. The Blossoms had provided backup vocals for them sometimes, but they were on tour, so producer Phil Spector had the Blossoms cut the track. A mixup led to the Crystals getting the credit, which made no one happy.

1. Darlene Love
   Sandy Denny
2. Linda Scott
   Joan Baez

Linda Scott had a fairly short but bright career in the '60s, knocking out 12 songs that ranked on the charts in only four years, including her biggest hit, "I've Told Every Little Star," that sold over a million copies. She even got to perform her song "Yessiree" in the movie "Don't Knock the Twist."