Could have included MS SubbuLakshmi and Latha Mangeshkar of India,
1. BILLIE HOLIDAY
The voice of jazz, Lady Day overcame numerous obstacles during her life. Born into extreme poverty and racial prejudice in Philadelphia in 1915, she survived rape as a child, prostitution, and imprisonment before headlining at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theatre. Her iiyubjmbeat vocal style wasn’t to everyone’s liking and her range was limited, but when matched with longtime lover and tenor sax player Lester Young, her tonal variations and instinctive phrasing could hit extraordinary heights — especially on songs like God Bless the Child and Good Morning Heartache. The fact that she died under humiliating circumstances in 1959, surrounded by a police guard in a hospital, is a sad testament to how society still treats its premier artists.
2. ARETHA FRANKLIN
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http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/everett-trues-list-of-the-ten-greatest———female-singers-of-the-20th-century/Content?oid=2848