Fashion model turned disco diva Grace Jones met the ’80s with a change that fit her iconoclastic cool: still danceable, but more in tune with a new wave/reggae crossover sound that would define the hottest thing going circa 1980. Eclectic material helps — she leaves her freezer-burn imprint on the Pretenders, Roxy Music, Tom Petty, and the Marvelettes — but so does her very presence, her voice sliding effortlessly into timbres Bowie would envy.

– Nate Patrin