Who tops our list of the greatest house vocalists?

1. Robert Owens. No voice is more woven into house than his. As one half of Fingers Inc. with Larry Heard, he sang 'Mystery of Love' and 'Can You Feel It', and in 1989 his aching lead on 'Tears', cut with Frankie Knuckles and Satoshi Tomiie, set the template for what we now call deep house: gospel phrasing, real heartbreak, sung over a machine. Decades on he still tours and sings live, and almost every soulful house record since owes him something.

2. Barbara Tucker. If Owens is the soul of deep house, Tucker is its gospel powerhouse. The defining voice of New York's Strictly Rhythm, she turned 'Beautiful People', 'I Get Lifted' and 'Everybody Dance' into floor scripture, church-trained and built for the climax of a 6am set. Few singers command a room like she does.

3. Byron Stingily. That impossibly high falsetto fronting Ten City on 'That's the Way Love Is' and 'Devotion' is one of house music's signature sounds, a direct line back to Sylvester and disco's queer joy. His 1998 solo cut 'Get Up (Everybody)' is still a guaranteed hands-in-the-air moment.

4. Jamie Principle. Before house had a name on records, Principle wrote and sang 'Your Love' and 'Baby Wants to Ride', songs Frankie Knuckles spun to legend at the Power Plant and later released. Equal parts Prince and Chicago warehouse, he is the writer-singer the genre was almost built around.

5. Martha Wash. Her voice is everywhere, even where her name was not. Wash powered Black Box's 'Ride on Time' and C+C Music Factory's 'Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)' while being left off the credits, lip-synced by models in the videos. She sued, won, and forced the US industry to print vocal credits on records and videos, a fight that changed dance music for every singer who followed.

Which voices just missed the top five?

Plenty, and the arguments are half the fun. CeCe Rogers gave house its civil-rights hymn with 'Someday'. Darryl Pandy detonated 'Love Can't Turn Around' with Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk and more or less invented the diva-house performance. Then come the 90s crossover queens: Crystal Waters ('Gypsy Woman', '100% Pure Love'), Ultra Naté ('Free'), Kym Mazelle and India, who carried the sound onto radio worldwide. Looming over all of it is Loleatta Holloway, the disco voice house sampled so often she became its ghost.