These are favorite singers of your favorite singers

"I love Aretha Franklin above all other singers," said Mercury, according to Discover Music. "She must have one of the best voices ever, and she sings like a dream. I wish I could sing half as well as she does. It's so natural, and she puts her whole emotion into it."

Woody Guthrie was a major influence on Bob Dylan. Dylan often spoke about Guthrie’s impact on his music and songwriting, saying in the documentary 'No Direction Home:' "You could listen to his songs and actually learn how to live." He wrote 'Song to Woody' as a tribute to the folk legend.

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Bob Dylan greatly inspired Jimi Hendrix, who famously covered Dylan’s 'All Along the Watchtower.' Hendrix said of Dylan: "All those people who don’t like Bob Dylan’s songs should read his lyrics. They are filled with the joys and sadness of life." When it came to songwriting, he said he could never write as well as Dylan.

Mitchell has covered many of her idols: Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Ray Charles, but maybe her favorite was Marvin Gaye, picking his song 'Trouble Man' on one record. "I had this song on an album, and I kept the needle on this track—playing it over and over," she explained. "It was so influential to my music and my singing. It excites me from the downbeat—the way the drums roll in – the suspense – the approaching storm of it," she said, according to Far Out.

The Nirvana lead singer spoke about how the Beatles were a huge influence on him as a kid. Cobain especially loved John Lennon, whom he called his "idol" in his posthumously released journals. He also wrote that the song 'About a Girl' from Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach came about after he spent three hours listening to 'Meet the Beatles!'

Roy Orbison was one of Elvis Presley’s favorite singers. He even refused to cover any of his songs at his Las Vegas residency, telling the audience that he couldn't "sing any of Roy's songs any better than the original recordings." He later added that Orbison had "the most perfect voice," according to Express.

The 'Back to Black' singer cited many influences, but in a 2006 interview, she said Sarah Vaughan was "one of my favorite singers of all time. She was an instrument." The singer even referenced Vaughan in 'October Song' from her debut album, describing how she sang her dead bird one of her lullabies as she laid the pet to rest.

Did you know that Holly’s band, The Crickets, inspired the insect-themed name of The Beatles? Yes, he was a huge influence because he did everything himself. "I still like Buddy's vocal style. And his writing. One of the main things about The Beatles is that we started out writing our own material. People these days take it for granted that you do, but nobody used to then," he says in The Beatles Anthology 1.

Freddie King was a major influence on Eric Clapton's guitar style. He told Music Radar that when he first heard him, he was "over the moon... I knew that was where I belonged - finally. That was serious, proper guitar playing, and I haven't changed my mind ever since. I still listen to it, and I get the same boost now that I did then." When asked to select songs for Uncut Magazine's free CD in 2004, the first track was 'I Love The Woman' by King.

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Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac has spoken about her admiration for Joni Mitchell. Discussing Mitchell’s 1974 release Court and Spark, she said: "It was one of those albums that I lay on the floor and listened to for three days straight," according to Far Out magazine.

Frank Sinatra held Tony Bennett in high regard. He once said of Bennett in Life Magazine, "For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He's the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more."

As the documentary 'I Am: Celine Dion' shows, she is enthralled with a performance by Australian singer John Farnham. "When I heard John Farnham, I was flipping because he had a power that broke the radio," she said. "When I first heard John, his voice was incredible and so emotional."

In a recent interview, when asked about his favorite bands, he listed three that are of little surprise, according to Far Out Magazine. "It’s Beatles, Stones, Animals, that’s how my playlist goes," he said. However, he also gushed about the 1950s band Dave Clark 5, praising their records as absolutely "great."

Another Joni fan! Mitchell has talked about receiving fan mail from Prince and seeing him at her shows. In 1985, Prince told Rolling Stone that he had not fallen in love with a record for ten years since he found Joni Mitchell's 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns' from 1975, which he described as being "the last album I loved all the way through."

The lead singer of Led Zeppelin has talked about the huge influence of Elvis on his singing and performance. "When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try and be Elvis," Plant explained, according to Far Out Magazine. Plant also has high praises for Robert Smith, Maddy Prior and June Tabor, Betty Harris, and Howlin' Wolf.

The Grammy-winning singer wrapped up her 2009 American tour by performing with her idol — Etta James. "She's my favorite singer," Adele told O, The Oprah Magazine. "Getting to do a show with her will be the best night ever." She’s also said she loves The Maccabees, Karen Dalton, and Alabama Shakes.

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