Karen Carpenter and Janis Joplin

Perhaps it feels that way on a prog forum but trust me, in the wide world of rock and pop music outside, Karen and Janis are way more well known, especially if you're talking Bjork or Kate. At least Joni has some pop standard like songs like Both Sides Now or I Don't Know Where I Stand.  

If anything, two connected trends in pop music that have nothing to do with wonderful solo songwriters like Kate Bush or Joni Mitchell have had a greater role in pushing singers like Karen Carpenter or Janis Joplin a little into the background.  

First, the mainstreaming of the concept of a pop diva singing mostly riffs over almost-screamed fifth octave notes (Whitney/Mariah/Celine).  This has become so popular as to be assumed to be the only acceptable or at least the best way to sing in pop music.  The only alternative (and this was the last credible resurgence of a different style in pop music) is Amy Winehouse like contralto mumbling.  Adele sort of bridged both styles but essentially leans towards the Winehouse side of things and Lana Del Rey is very much a Winehouse clone.  All this leaves very little room for Karen Carpenter's soothing and soaring singing within a mid-range (as opposed to going really high) and emphasising textual interpretation and phrasing over technical gymnastics.  It is also thought of as kinda wimpy or too 'feminine' by those who think only flat out belting throughout a song is powerful.  Basically, the range of expressions considered valid for a female pop singer have been narrowed dramatically even whilst the mainstream believes they are leading an epic female emancipation or whatever.  There is none of the diversity you had in the 70s.  

The other which goes hand in hand with the first trend is treating only black-dominated genres and styles as valid.  I have noticed that my Indian-American cousins listen almost exclusively to black artists.  I have never interrogated them about this for fear of stepping on a PC landmine, lol, but it has always struck me as strange coming from a perspective where I just listen to the audio and react instinctively at first and later find out all about the race, nationality or ethnicity of the artist. The few white artists my cousins like tend to appropriate and imitate black genres (Ariana Grande).  As you may well know, outside the safe space of progarchives or other forums where a spectrum of opinions is tolerated without being a mouthpiece for only one side, basically all rock music is just white male supremacy (oh, and also homophobic even though it championed gay artists long before pop).  Janis Joplin is then a gross misfit in this kind of reading of popular music culture.  They can't even...what was this lady doing rocking out with white dudes.  

In this way, both Karen Carpenter and Janis Joplin don't fit into certain narratives that 'liberal' media seeks to champion about music and these narratives in turn completely ignore how powerful an example these two ladies set by blazing a trail for many female artists to come.  I am sure if you ask actual female musicians and singers, they would have a very different take about the two and would whole heartedly extol their example but that, apparently, is not what we're supposed to do.  Thankfully, because the two are women, the media can't go after them and attack them but they do seem to find it uncomfortable as to what exactly they are supposed to do with them and would prefer to spin them as 'cautionary' tales (nevermind that the same could likewise be said of Whitney or Amy Winehouse too). 

Speaking of pop as well in particular, but not exclusively in that realm, one of the things that has remained for female artists is the preference that they possess physical beauty (not unheard of for male artists, either, but more likely to get away with it, if they are not so blessed).  In Janis' and Karen's cases, Janis often mourned that she wasn't "prettier," in her interviews and Karen went so far as to commit slow suicide to try and attain "beauty," and perfection.  

Nice to see a thoughtful thread on classic female vocalists.

Another woman who deserves much praise imo is Linda Ronstadt. I'm doing a deep dive now through her 28 studio albums, and I feel like a fool for not paying more attention sooner. She is an amazing vocalist with great musical instincts, and her albums are, at different times, diverse, fun, moving, surprising.