10 Best Frontwomen In Rock Music History

Why She's Here: Well, to start, the band is named after her (and co-founder Isabella "Machine" Summers). Their avant-garde indie rock has grown to the point where they headlined such major festivals as Glastonbury and Lollapalooza in 2015, and that growth has taken place almost exclusively due to Welch's presence as a singer. Her trademark red hair matches the fire in her voice, which ranges from a sultry, soulful alto to the brain-melting high notes on "Say My Name," and she tosses about onstage with a focused intensity that evokes a hypnosis in anyone who watches.

Without Welch rocking the mic, Florence + The Machine's music would be relegated to arthouse-type venues and the snobbish praise of critics. But in forming the bridge between the band's baroque rock elements and soulful pop, she's helped to expand the scope of what commercially successful rock songs can sound like.

Highlight: Welch got the chance to join Mick Jagger onstage in 2012 for a performance of "Gimme Shelter" at London's O2 Arena. It's outside the realm of her work with The Machine, but this showcases all the greatest aspects of her vocal ability: her theatrical fashion, her ecstatic energy, and the sheer heartfelt power behind her voice. She accomplishes the near-impossible feat of matching the rawness of Merry Clayton's vocals on the 1970 recorded version and does so without the context of the chaotic 1960s.