Diamanda Galás

"Unique" is a term that's used far too much by too many critics, but it genuinely applies to Diamanda Galás, an artist who for over four decades has, brick by ornate brick, meticulously built the path she still paces to this day. Inspired by opera, Greek and Arab folk music, jazz, experimental music and classical traditions, she has refused to stay in any given place for too long, penning politically-charged solo albums like 1984's self-titled landmark and her gospel-tinted Masque of the Red Death trilogy and collaborating with artists from across the world's vast creative landscape: from Francis Ford Coppola to Iannis Xenakis. She's an avant-garde legend, there's no doubt.