I find male singers and what they sing about fascinating. It makes me realize how little we know about ourselves and how little I know about myself. It’s interesting to see the male perspective.
I don’t know why I keep saying this, and I don’t know why I keep using their names… And I’m not dogging them. I’m not slandering them. I’m not saying they are bad musicians. But how can Taylor Swift or Justin Timberlake win for R&B and funk? They are pop singers.
It is strange, but nobody is shocked when pop singers make a fortune in the space of two years.
What’s interesting about Vampire Weekend, everyone in the band, except for me, had a band in high school in which they were the lead singers. And I’m the one who never had that experience.
There’s a lot of great singers out here.
I don’t want to bore people with stories about being in rock n’ roll and being a mother. Other singers do it. I can, too. I just do what I have to do. It’s not that hard. It’s just different.
The Italians are not indulgent, as Americans are. They don’t have the patience to teach young singers how to move. They think you should learn in school.
That was how I had developed my singing style in the first place – imitating other singers like George Michael and Richard Marx.
I can do the vocal acrobatics but I really try not to. I’ve always been drawn to singers who sing it like it is, pure, straight down the line: Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Smith, Carole King. Simplicity is really important to me.
To work with different singers gives us creative freedom because we can experiment with different sounds on every song.
With my previous record deal, it’d be like, ‘OK, so I have this track then, EMI – do you know any singers, maybe? Do you have any singers on your little label there?’ And funnily enough, they didn’t. But I prefer finding unknown singers myself anyway.
We are true singers but that maniac Frank Farian would never allow us to express ourselves.
My parents were both opera singers, and they also were both heavily into religious and church music.
I listened to a lot of what my grandparents listened to: George Jones, Johnny Cash – a lot of old country singers. Patsy Cline.
I never thought about making music because it has to be a hit. There are so many better singers out there who are better trained in music, but I am probably the chosen one… I have not discovered any formula for staying relevant.
Dorsey played the upright bass and steel guitar, as well as acoustic guitar. Johnny played acoustic guitar and together they were fabulous songwriters and singers.
Sometimes songwriters and singers forget that. They get a melody in their head and the notes will take precedence, so that they wind up forcing a word onto a melody. It doesn’t ring true.
I’ve always wanted to work with Barbra Streisand because she’s worked with some of the best background singers in the world who are friends of mine, worked with them in concert or on movie soundtracks, and I always say ‘Now, where was I? Where was I when she was hiring people to work with her?’
I like the audience to be engaged with the numbers I am singing and do not repeat my songs at any of my concerts. There are thousands of songs that I have lent my voice to with so many other singers, so why bore my audience by singing the same songs?
Before the 20th century, to be a successful musician was merely to be one who was employed. A few, such as Liszt, Paderewski and several singers, had phenomenally lucrative careers, but they were rare – and Liszt gave all of his money away, travelling by choice in a third-class rail carriage.
World music can be sometimes like the lumber room in which all the non-English singers are dumped. When you are singing in Arabic, no matter what your style of music or artistic proposition is, you are faced with some of that reality.
The greatest impact of ‘We Are the World’ seems to have been the video, which lets us see the singers take their turns at the microphone without any sense of star ego.
My favorite flamenco singers, they’re not trying to look pretty. They’re trying to put truth in what they do, in the way they express themselves. Sometimes that’s not beauty, but it’s beautiful.
My favourite singers are people like R. Kelly and people like that.
Some have called we rock and roll performers who never retire ‘troubadours.’ I enjoy this misnomer immensely. While there are many differences between me and my distant predecessors in L’Occitane, I do believe there is a lineage that connects us of the last 70 years with those romantic singers of the High Middle Ages.
The very beautiful and very touching thing about opera singers is they are very willing to do whatever you want. Unlike actors, who constantly want to know why they’re doing something, opera singers will sort of follow you into the fires of hell.
If you can’t imagine female torch singers and Skrillex-style demon techno onstage at the same moment, you don’t know Eurovision.
People ask me for advice. And the best advice I can give aspiring singers is to know in your heart this is your calling and there’s nothing else you’d rather do.
Those old Appalachian singers use a falsetto sometimes. They can change their voices to sound high or low or really scratchy. When you’re singing, usually you’re trying to express some kind of pain or joy. I think that voice allows me to do a lot more of that.
I’m drawn to singers who have something different to say vocally, and Adele would be in there.
And the thing that I always tried to do with important singers when I met them was to sit down and record everything they knew, give them a first real run-through of their art.
So many singers want to act, and so many actors try to sing.
There are no Soul singer Wilson Pickett singers in disco.
The most widely criticised singers in the history of opera, Maria Callas and Franco Corelli, happen also to be the best singers. I am honoured for being part of their group.
My parents were both in show business. My father was an actor, my mom an actress, and both singers, dancers and actors. They met in Los Angeles doing a play together and so I grew up in a show biz family.
I was born in Faridabad but brought up in Delhi and Mumbai. My father had been living hand-to-mouth and literally slept on railway platforms when he came to Mumbai for the first time to become a film singer. My parents were both singers; they sang together and fell in love due to their singing.
I really like female singers; I’ve got zero interest in working with male singers. Any male voice I need to do, I can do.
Audiences are not interested in watching singers who stand stiffly and sing for three hours.
I think I’ve been able to connect with people and their emotions through my songs. I feel honoured that despite having so many talented singers around, my work is always appreciated.
Lead singers not only do the majority of the work, but their personalities are singled out and taken as the general attitude of the unit.
I’ve tried to learn as much as I can about the great jazz singers to understand what makes them important, vital artists, but there is always something more to learn.
A ton of little girls I talk to, they want to be actresses or singers or models.
My father never violated any copyright laws. He created cover versions, that is, he got new singers to sing popular Hindi songs to build his music empire. This was permitted under the law and he did not do anything illegal.
There are so many soulful singers, even the ones coming from London, like Adele and Jessie J, who are just amazing. It feels like a really cool time to be making music now.
I was lucky enough to first meet Elvis at his house in Bel Air and he used to invite different artists, singers and musicians, to come and jam with him at his house.
When it comes to R&B singers, people think of soft men and technically I am not a soft man, not your typically R&B cat, so with a song like ‘Ice Box’ I wanted to be the voice for others.
There are many singers who in spite of not making big in the industry are doing numerous shows and earning a lot of money.
My father had lived in the States in the 1960s for a while and came to love American Songbook material. Even today, he sometimes recognizes singers that I never even heard of, which is beautiful and inspiring.
I’m obsessed with karaoke, but I don’t like to sing. I just like to go and watch amateur singers.
He was a manager, one of the singers, I guess talent coordinator for the local talent in Harlem. His name was Lover Patterson. He was living right across the street from where my dad had his restaurant. I guess he saw a lot of kids come in, a lot of my buddies.
I had this voice when I was in high school, except nobody thought much of it then. I developed it by imitating singers I admired – Alison Moyet, Boy George, later on Nina Simone.
I listen to archival and historic recordings. I love watching singers. I learned a lot from watching videos.
I have a lot of friends who do what I do. Either they’re actresses or singers or things like that.
Both my mother and my grandmother aspired to be opera singers. And they studied it.
For singers and drummers, you’ve really gotta have your chops together just to do a rehearsal.
Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and I were the first female headliners, where we would book our own opening acts. Before that, it was a standing joke that it was more like we had ‘pretty little girl singers’ opening for a male headliner.
