I'm curious about Marvin's placement here.
Seems to me like he doesn't do so well in the technical area, but obviously his whole style is hugely iconic.
I'd think that someone like Stevie would be top 10 here, his ability was second only to Jackie overall within soul, IMO. The guy's whole melismatic style was totally his own.
And I say this as a MUCH bigger fan of Gaye (Stevie can be a little off-putting with his crazy melismas, Marvin just always sounds silky smooth and perfect).

Sampson, have you heard Gaye's cover of Yesterday? Imo, it's stunning.

Good vocal style, but I don't like this song done as a soul record.

Marvin does very well technically in most every area. He's just not dynamic like a lot of people here seem to prefer, especially when discussing the individual attributes. Actually I think that's the one failing of the vocal debates, the site consensus favors the singers who set out to PROVE they had a powerhouse voice with everything they sung. Strangely enough in woman, think Mariah Carey for one, that type of singer gets roundly criticized, people say she's showing off for the sake off showing off, but in the guys it more often than not is praised endlessly. With Gaye he never really did that, he was always restrained so I think he gets slightly overlooked here, but the guy was always technically perfect. The funny thing is, I go the other way than you on Marvin, I'm a bigger fan of Stevie than Marvin, who sometimes leaves me a little cold, but I absolutely believe Gaye could out sing Wonder.

I agree on Yesterday, Marvin does a fantastic job on it.

This has always been my favorite version of Yesterday, though opinion is definitely split on it, with some finding it absolutely awful. I obviously disagree with that assessment. What I love about it is the fact that Ray roughens his voice up, ratchets up the despair and sounds almost like a broken man. McCartney's original was melancholy and wistful. Ray's is painful and desperate.

The back story to that is: He cut it shortly after kicking heroin and being publicly scorned for his latest drug bust and there's a thought that he sang the lyrics of the song as if it were drugs he's thinking back on, not a woman. When you let your mind think of the lyrics in that way, knowing what had just happened to him, it seems almost autobiographical, almost sounds like he's going through withdrawals actually, and to me it's just way more powerful than any other take on the song that I've heard, maybe just for that reason alone. The back half of it isn't nearly as strong as the first half, though I like the ending on piano, but that first half is a killer, right through the point where he slides into falsetto at the 1:12 mark, which is chilling. But I totally understand others dismissing it, even though it was a pretty big hit.

Yeah we've posted that on the 'Vocal Performance Rating' thread a while back, Ray does a great job but I prefer Gaye's by far.

Funny thing about Ray is that I prefer his more 'rockier' stuff over his ballads. Tunes like Nighttime Is The Right Time, Lonely Avenue, and Blackjack....just blow me away.

My favorite from Ray, by far.

Um, so has there EVER been an r&b vocalist more versatile than Jackie? I mean, I've heard a ton of his catalogue (mostly thanks to Nick, and youtube of course), and the amount of styles he covered throughout his career was amazing.
Everything from jazz ballads, high energy rockers, soul ballads, pop, opera, gospel (though not as proficiently as Hamilton or Presley), funk, foreign standards, doo wop, even a little dab of country at the end of his career..... I mean wow.

His resume is, quite frankly, absurd.

Here's another guy with a great voice and a lot of versatility.

Yeah that's a great sample of that guy's diversity.

Ron Isley is another one I've always felt was very versatile throughout his career.
From his earlier stuff like Shout to the more gospel-influenced stuff to the 'seduction ballad' type of soul...he's done just about everything.

Pollard was also a Broadway guy, like Gillian and Ronnie Dyson.

There's also Gene Mumford.

I remember having an absurd debate with someone once who was arguing that Roger Daltrey was more versatile..

Daltrey is a lot more versatile than people credit him for, though.
But I'd still give it to Wilson.

Clash was it ?

Jack I think.