Songs By Mononymous Singers, Vol. 1 – The Ladies

For the linguistically uninformed, a mononym is "a one-word name by which a person is known." The entertainment world, and the music industry in particular, is rife with notable mononymous persons. What follows is part one (of two) of a collection of songs by singers known only by one name. Sometimes it's their actual first name and sometimes it's a stage name – but it's always and only one name that they go by. Today, the ladies. Tomorrow, the guys. Enjoy!   ~  JH

(NOTE: Apologies to Bjork, P!nk, Jewel, Orianthi, Plumb, Xenia, Meiko, Basia, Feist, Kimbra, and others whom I may have left off here. All of these ladies would have qualified, but I've featured their music prominently on my blog in the past, and this time I wanted to focus on some "new" singers. To be fair, Adele has appeared on the blog before also, but she was too good to be left off here.)

1)  Cher  ~  "Believe"  (Contrary to popular belief, Cher is NOT a man in drag!)

2)  Madonna  ~  "Secret"  (It's hard to find a Madonna video that isn't slutty...)

3)  Beyoncé & Shakira  ~  "Beautiful Liar"  (Two mononymous singers for the price of one! – how 'bout them apples?)

4)  Selena  ~  "Dreaming Of You"  (Rest in peace – 18 years ago, actually – to a wonderfully talented singer who was cut down in her prime.)

5)  Ke$ha  ~  "Your Love Is My Drug"  (After all my previous ribbing regarding her stupidity, Ke$ha has finally made an actual "musical appearance" on the blog – will wonders never cease?)

6)  Fergie  ~  "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)"  (I heard this song covered on Glee and really liked it, but I didn't know who originally sang it till now.)

7)  Anjulie  ~  "Love Songs"  (A feel-good song by a unique-sounding singer.)

8)  Poe  ~  "Angry Johnny"  (WARNING: Contains gleefully violent lyrics – if you don't have a twisted sense of humor, you might not appreciate it!)

9)  Lenka  ~  "Everything At Once"  (Fact: Australian girl-pop is some of the quirkiest music you'll hear anywhere.)

10)  Adele  ~  "Someone Like You"  (This is an absolutely perfect song by one of my all-time favorite singers.)

11)  Rumer  ~  "Am I Forgiven?"  (Being a longtime fan of The Carpenters, I was awestruck when I first heard a song by Rumer – while she's an excellent singer in her own right, the similarity between her voice and Karen Carpenter's simply cannot be ignored!)

12)  Lights  ~  "Toes"  (A toe-tapping – pun intended – tune by a tremendously talented young lady.)

13)  Tiffany  ~  "I Think We're Alone Now"  (Years after I heard this song for the first time, it strikes me that Tiffany wasn't actually that great of a singer after all.)

14)  Aaliyah  ~  "At Your Best (You Are Love)"  (The R & B genre lost a great talent in 2001 when this young lady – 22 years old at the time – died in a plane crash in 2001.)

15)  Eowyn  ~  "Cliché"  (And now for some Christian hard rock by one of the more talented female singers in that niche...)

16)  Rihanna  ~  "Diamonds"  (It's also hard to find a Rihanna video that isn't slutty...)

17)  Enya  ~  "Caribbean Blue"  (I'm the only person I know who'd follow up a Rihanna song with one by Enya.)

18)  Monica  ~  "For You I Will"  (In my opinion, this is one of the best R & B songs recorded in the last 20 years.)

19)  Mandisa  ~  "Stronger"  (This video is of a live, in-studio performance of her hit song – amazing!)

20)  Imaj  ~  "Blush"  (Is the country music industry ready for an African-American female singer? If this is song is any indication, I certainly think they should be...)