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DAJAE
The voice of Chicago. Few can do a hurricane-force, gospel-inspired house music holler like Karen ‘Dajae’ Gordon did on her collaborations with Cajmere, aka Green Velvet. ‘Brighter Days’, ‘U Got Me Up’ and ‘Day By Day’ can still turn a straight man into a disco dolly in seconds.

11
JENNA G
The de facto voice of the d’n’b scene, Mancunian Jenna has featured on tunes by Goldie, Chase & Status, Clipz & Die, Shy FX, garage legend Zed Bias and many more. She always injects a healthy dose of soul into any project, and does a great line in big hair to boot.

10
BARBARA TUCKER
A reminder of how a true diva is not just a voice for hire, Ms Tucker is a writer, producer, dancer, label owner, choreographer, activist and actress as well as vocalist on more classic scream-ups than you can shake a glittery stick at. She is, we think it’s fair to say, not messing.

9
TRACEY THORN
OK, she’s the diametric opposite of a standard diva in almost every way, but ever since ‘Missing’, Everything But The Girl’s Tracey has become the go-to girl for a generation or more of deep house and techno producers who want an extra layer of melancholy added.

8
DARRYL PANDY
There have been plenty of male house divas, but the late Darryl Pandy shone brightest. Sequined, larger than life and with a voice from a deep roar to pure, glass-cracking top notes, his demented delivery of ‘Love Can’t Turn Around’ in ’86 was many people’s first taste of house.

7
INDIA
A constant reminder of how much Puerto Rican spirit there is in dance. On Masters At Work smashes ‘I Can’t Get No Sleep’, ‘Runaway’ and ‘To Be In Love’, Linda Viera Caballero, aka La India, aka The Princess Of Salsa has always delivered pure Latina fire.

6
ROISIN MURPHY
With Moloko or solo, Róisín has always given her own twist on diva-dom with her out-there fashion sense, hyper-smart lyrics and the spirit of the dancefloor woven into the fabric of her being. Her recent ‘Cherry Picking’ with Toddla T shows she’s still as fresh and strange as ever.

5
ADEVA
The clue’s in the name. With her tall hair and don’t-mess eyes, Adeva presented dance with a super-fierce-looking (and sounding) figurehead. ‘I Thank You’, ‘Musical Freedom’ and ‘Respect’ were huge anthems back in ’89 and she continues to sing and get sampled to this day.

4
WANDA DEE
Deserves inclusion for her hilarious website (“The Goddess is here: a name that Europeans, hip hop purists & The Gays are all quite familiar with”) and for singing/co-
writing KLF’s biggest vocal hits, but also for her chutzpah in touring the world under the KLF name ever since.

3
NICOLETTE
Her work with Shut Up And Dance brought us some the classiest records of early hardcore, bar none. And since then her work with Massive Attack, Plaid, 4Hero and more have marked out her territory as a sultry, strange and entirely unique kind of diva.

2
LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY
Not the biggest star of the disco era, by any means, but the sheer force of her voice on ‘Love Sensation’ – stolen wholesale for Black Box’s ‘Ride On Time’ – would come to define the wild euphoria of rave. One of the most sampled singers of all time, deservedly so.

1
JOCELYN BROWN
From Chic, Cerrone, Inner Life and the Salsoul Orchestra in the disco era, through ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’ in the 80s and being sampled for Snap’s ‘The Power!’ to being the de facto voice of house music right through to the present day, nobody else has kept up the siren call to the dancefloor for as long or as powerfully as the zeppelin-lunged Ms Brown. The epitome of the indefatigable diva, she’s still belting them out at 61 and with no signs of stopping yet. Keep on jumpin’.