Foxy Ladies #20: The 100 Hottest Female Singers/Musicians of the 1960's - 1980's

I'll spare you the suspense. Agnetha wins.  No contest.

There's only three rules to this list: 

(1) The singers must have experienced a degree of popularity in the 1960s - 80s.  Thus, no local obscure singers, and no Fergie.

(2) Their popularity is derived primarily from music. Thus, no Cheryl Ladd or Goldie Hawn, even though they put out albums.

(3) Please do not overly fixate on the order; focus on glaring omissions and unworthy inclusions.** 

With that said, here's #2 - #100

2. Debbie Harry 
3. Olivia Newton-John
4. Tina Turner
5. Terry Nunn (Berlin)
6. Wendy James (Transvision Vamp)
7. Barbara Mandrell
9. Sylvie Vartan

11. Lita Ford 
12. Jeannie C. Riley*
13. Sheila E.
14. Sheena Easton
15. Donna Summer
16. Claudine Longet
17. Mariska Veres (Shocking Blue)
18. Cherrie Currie (Runaways) 
19. Anita Baker
20. Janet Gardner (Vixen)

21. Dolly Parton 
22. Vicki Peterson (The Bangles)
23. Samantha Fox
24. Janet Jackson
25. Vanity
26. Cindy Wilson (B-52's)
27. Corinne Drewery (Swing Out Sister)
28. Patty Donahue (The Waitresses)
29. Patty Smyth (Scandal)
30. Keren Woodward (Bananarama)
31. Michelle Phillips (Mamas & the Papas)
32. Pat Benetar
33. Kate Pierson (B-52's)
34. Poison Ivy (The Cramps)
35. Annabella Lwin (Bow Wow Wow)
36. Sade
37. Christine McVie
38. Marie Fredriksson (Roxette)
39. Stevie Nicks
40. Kim Wilde
41. Susanna Hoffs
42. Crystal Gale
43. Lulu*
44. Diana Ross
45. Dale Bozzio (Missing Persons)
46. Frida Lingstad (ABBA)
47. Carly Simon
48. Marylin Mccoo (The 5th Dimension)
49. Elkie Brooks
50. Lisa Lisa 
51. Carol Decker (T'Pau)
52. Nina Carter (Blonde on Blonde)
53. Rita Coolidge
54. Wendy O'Williams
55. Nancy Sinatra
56. Marianne Faithful
57. Linda Ronstadt
58. Cher
59. Nico
60. Esther Ofarim
61. Madonna 
62. Belinda Carlisle
63. Siouxie Sioux
64. Joni Mitchell
65. Paula Abdul
66. Danielle Dax
67. Linda Nolan (The Nolan Sisters)
68. Ofra Haza
69. Toni Basil
70. Nena

81. Toni Tennille
82. Helen Reddy
83. Grace Slick
84. Sara Brightman
85. Joan Jett
86. Nancy Wilson (Heart)
87. Chrissie Hynde
88. Kate Bush
90. Nina Hagen
91. Melanie
92. Ellen Foley (backup singer for Meatloaf)
93. Lisa Coleman (Wendy & Lisa)
94. Spinderella (Salt'n'Peppa)
95. Michael Steele (Bangles)
96. Ann Wilson (Heart)
97. Mary Wilson (Supremes)
98. Ronnie Specter
99. Pet Clarke
100. Laura Branigan
* I'm a sucker for a miniskirt
** In other words, it's okay to ask me if I'm on crack for putting Belinda Carlisle on the list... but don't scream that she shouldn't be at 62.  Remember when Rolling Stone ranked the greatest songs of all time and included several Backstreet Boys and In-Sync "classics"? Who cares what position they ranked, they shouldn't have been on the goddamn list. Get my drift?


  1. Obviously this all comes down to personal opinion, but I think Debbie Gibson, Lene Lovich and Sinead O'Connor are all better looking than Cher, Dolly Parton, or Carly Simon.




  2. I'm huffing a little bit on Noosha Fox's behalf ;)

  3. Hell yes to Belinda Carlisle--she's one of the few things I liked about the Eighties!

    Aw, no love for Armi Aavikko, Finland's version of Olivia Newton-John? Her & her partner Danny have one of the most popular 1970s vids on YouTube, y'know! :)

  4. Yay, high five!! Agree totally on Agnetha Faltskog. Absolutely stunning woman. I saw ABBA in concert back in 79 and I spent most of the time oggling her through a pair of cheap binoculars. She's just a natural stunner.

    There's a youtube clip of ABBA singing "Sos" on some obscure tv show where both the girls are wearing those skimpy outfits and wriggling around as they do their little dance. Very hot.

  5. Stevie Nicks! How could you leave her off?

    Joni Mitchell? Carly Simon? Maybe I'm missing something there, but I wouldn't put them on any foxy list. You might as well have Janis Joplin.

    Michelle Phillips is easy top 3, but I won't quibble since you said not to.

  6. Sharleen Spiteri of Texas, more known in the UK and Scotland than the states, kinda imagine Juliette Binoche having a tomboy kid sister and you get the idea....

    Like all lists thar be some head scratchers and some yeah...I get that.
    You're quite kind to Corrine Drewery and Keren Woodward.

  7. Damn. I was sure I had Stevie Nicks on there. Guess not. Good catch Retro Hound. And Joni and Carly - hell yes they're on there. Have a look back at some old photos - no comparison between them and Janis.

  8. Memorable line from "WKRP in Cincinnati" - Johnny mumbles to Venus "C'mon, let's go look at Carly Simon album covers."

  9. is Ricki Lee Jones too obscure?

  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

  11. Stevie Nicks shouldn't be on the list simply because of her goat voice and dumb gypsy witch clothing. But no Karen Carpenter? She could look pretty good at certain angles where she didn't look too much like her brother.

  12. Susanna Hoffs should be way up the list.

    Robbie Fulks even wrote a song about her.


  13. I hope you won't mind if I take a shot at doing the 100 hottest male singers on Go Retro. Mostly I see it as a challenge, because there simply weren't as many male counterparts in my opinion.

    I'm surprised that Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (when she was young) didn't make the list.

  14. Don't mind at all, Pam. In fact, I look forward to seeing it.

    Not as many male counterparts? Are kidding? Or have you forgotten about Christopher Cross and Rupert Holmes? :-)

  15. They will be on the Unsexiest Male Singers List, which I definitely plan on doing after the Hottie one!

  16. I am surprised that a blog that traffics in such retro goodness would have overlooked Julie London for this thread.

  17. A Girl in Trouble is a Temporary Thing

    sung by Deborah Iyall of Romeo Void. Physically she was a chunk and plain at best but her voice could transform her into an erotic siren.

    Listen to this, and believe in her power


  18. "Deborah Iyall" and "foxy" don't belong in the same post. *shudder*

  19. regular joe - this post states that it's artists who were popular during the sixties - eighties. Thus, no Julie London whose success was waning by the start of the sixties. After '64 it was "Julie who?"

  20. When I saw "Emergency!", I didn't even know at the time that Julie London had been a singer. I enjoyed seeing her in that short, tight, nurse's uniform, and hearing that voice that always gave me shivers. That gorgeous woman could have said she was going to jab my teenage hide with a needle full of rabies virus and I would have been smiling the entire time, lol.

  21. Thanks all for the Julie London love. I'm pretty certain I have some Playboys from the 1960's where Julie London is featured in the record club advertisements, that's about as mainstream popularity as it gets in my book but I bow to your rules, Gilligan.

  22. and Patsy Kensit...?

  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

  24. The big omission (for me) is Dusty Springfield...For the '70's I would add Nicolette Larsen. Not too long before she passed away, she did a cover of "I Only Want To Be With You" which I remember from watching "Solid Gold". She wore a mini with knee high black boots; it certainly got my attention.

    I might also have slipped in "Go Retro Pam"...:-)

  25. I can go with Dusty. She should be on there somewhere.

    I didn't mean to sound snarky about Julie London. But if I included her, then that opens a whole bunch of other lovely gals from that same era - Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Astrud Gilberto, Eartha Kitt, Dinah Shore,Connie Francis, etc.

    No doubt Julie was super hot. Jack Webb was a lucky man.

  26. Excuse me for my ignorance, but could somebody tell me the difference between 39. Sarah Brightman and 84. Sara Brightman?

  27. Aha! That's what happened. Stevie was supposed to go at 39... problem solved. Thanks Mr. Nasty.

  28. Good list. Have to agree with Regular Joe on Sharleen Spiteri. Hot.

  29. Debbie Harry absolutley captivated me for sooo many years! I was horrendously disappointed when I finally got the opportunity to see her for the first time circa 1995: Hideously drunk & overweight doing karaoke...yes, karaoke, inserting her voice to her own songs, at a local nightclub & we all had to wait 3 hours overdue for her to come out on stage. So drunk she dropped the microphone...twice.

    Happy to say I finally got a "make-up concert" with Blondie - free tickets to Nevada locals 2009 at Prim Casino, Nevada. And Debbie looked great with her brand-new facelift - so....Debbie Harry - 100 points +99 points places her at #2...ok. I agree. :)

  30. This been a list of female SINGERS there are some names here that in my opinion do NOT qualify a singers, Like Samantha Fox she was a glamour model.Singers with real voices like Elkie Brooks should be way above a lot of these so called singers.As for hot!!! her live shows with "Vinegar Joe" left grown men weak !!

  31. Did I miss cindy lauper? Cmon guys!

  32. AnonymousJuly 21, 2013

    Surprised not to see Gayle Mac Cormack from a group called Smith

  33. Focusing on the glaring: Marianne Faithfull should be a lot higher on the list. Christine McVie above Stevie Nicks... really? Cindy Wilson above Kate Pierson?

    Maybe there is another post on album-cover candy, but even so there should be honorable mention to the women on the cover of Roxy Music's Country Life LP.

  34. AnonymousJuly 25, 2014

    Abba Agnetha was no. 1. She could sing and was very sexy in an innocent way, and she also had that amazing ass that she often showed in tight outfit in their concerts.

  35. Glaring ommision1, There's probably other's I'm missing but the fact that Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Kylie Minogue for single vocalists, and Expose are missing is a huge over sight. Had Bananarama not been there it would have been worse. But I'm not sure how the list really works. I mean, is it a list of the hottest looking female singers that can either sing OK, or good, or perhaps great. Or is it a list of the hottest/sexiest sounding female singers that may not look the best but radiate sexiness in their voices?? That said, the singers I listed not only had sexy voices in that they were lively, seemed to be signing to you (like they are you're gf), perfect pitch, diction, annunciation, seemed warm/friendly/lovely .. but they also were VERY attractive. So why are they all missing from this list? My guess is that it's caused by two things. One no one usually knows them all, and there are ones here I haven't heard enough of to make a decision... But also sometimes people develop attitutudes that can either inhibit or bias their decisions. Like for example. Say you have all this respect for Ann wilson, or the two girls from Heart because they are awesome.... Then you see this little 16 year old singer come along. You may not want to say she's as good, so you exclude her. But the list is about sexy. Tiffany, in her way, was very romantic and sexy. So was Debbie, and she was big song writer too. So I'm wonder if the writer is maybe just a bit older, had a few favorites already, and just ditched Debbie and Tiffany. For the blog writer pull up either, put on head phones, let go of preconceived ideas or attitudes and just listen. They are pure and sexy sounding. Kylie, about 10 years older at the time, is a very, very sexy singer on most of her albums. So those are what I'd add for glaring omissions. I'm sure there are more.

  36. another is Tracy Ulman. She is not the very prettiest or best looking, and is a one hit wonder (i think), but that song, "They don't know about us", is just sung perfectly, is sweet and lovely, and seems sexy. I study sound, into music, have a studio, and do many repetitive listens. Even though she has like only one great song I know of, the quality of her singing is so perfect I'm surprised she only did one. Debbie and Tiffany also did perfect on their CD's.

  37. Does any body know any site except youtube to download video of hot singer danuta lato....?

  38. Barbra Streisand!


  40. Hello everyone.
    Here are a few collage-pics I made of some of the lovely Ladies mentioned on the list.
    You may use them on your retrospace page here.
    I too would put Olivia Newton-John in the top 2 as well.

    Also in my top 11 for this specific list would be:
    Sarah Brightman http://imgbox.com/e2uQrFwg
    Debbie Harry http://imgbox.com/Z7zhnqNT
    Pat Benatar http://imgbox.com/attSCGbQ
    Crystal Gayle http://imgbox.com/QZwyD9tz
    Kate Bush http://imgbox.com/vFBMSA6T
    Barbara Mandrell http://imgbox.com/DKWkYmO0
    Tori Amos (1st album was 80’s) http://imgbox.com/6WS1jPew
    Rachael Fury (Pink Floyd b.g. singer-shorter one) http://imgbox.com/8IZ03ruo
    Harriet Wheeler (the Sundays) (1st album ’89) http://imgbox.com/g0mMSl79
    Kylie Minogue (came out in the 80’s) http://imgbox.com/F0QiqWbB
    - Eric C. H.