Top 40 Gregory Porter Quotes

My mother was a minister, so I grew up in a church. My grandfather was a minister; there are a bunch of ministers in my family.

And I’ve made it a choice on my records that sometimes I leave the breath or the trailing note that sometimes falls into a flat or a sharp.

It’s been some surreal moments, you know from performing at Buckingham Palace to having dinner with Stevie Wonder, it’s been an amazing ride.

The voice is probably supposed to have some cracks and pops and some mistakes in it.

Writing from a personal experience can bring about this emotion and power of emotion that can be instantly connected to the instrument, my voice.

Gospel music was very prevalent in my house. My mother also loved Nat King Cole. That was some of the first music that I heard. Mahalia Jackson, Nat King Cole and the Mississippi Mass Choir.

I was in rehab for nine months, and I needed some solace and distraction. I was in town one day and I sort of stumbled into a jazz jam session, and kept going back.

What a Wonderful World’ is a love song to nobody and everybody. I’m thinking about songs like that in my writing with ‘Take Me to the Alley.’

My mother gave me the courage to pursue music as a career on her deathbed. She became very ill when I was 21. I didn’t want her to worry about my future. I wanted her to know I’d finish my degree. But she pushed me to follow my dream, even if it wasn’t the safe option.

I consider myself a jazz singer. I think I stick to the roots of improvisation, singing in front of the beat, behind the beat, playing with notes and harmonies.

One critic called me nothing but a blues singer, as though that was a slight. That is the highest compliment there is.

Sometimes I’ll be in circles, and I’ll say I’m a jazz singer, and they have no idea what that means.

I heard Smokey Robinson was singing one of my songs on the radio the other day. Being in the presence of Mavis Staples, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott – Stevie Wonder joined me on stage recently. That blows me away.

I’m always lobbying for the irrepressible strength of love.

I had a long-term relationship that failed. I had some health issues. When you dip down emotionally you can gather some things that help you when you do rise. If you go through it and you’re OK, you can develop some scars that help you in the time after.

Even if you’ve being playing together for years, there’ll always be something new. You’re constantly back phrasing, front phrasing, singing faster, singing slower.

The protest songs of the 1960s and 70s managed to blend political and societal views with music from the heart.

How can you sing a line like, ‘I’ve fallen out of love’ when you’re 18? You need to experience something of life before you can sing it.

San Diego is where I really started to get my legs, musically.

On stage, it’s very naked. There’s a reason you shake your knees. You’re very vulnerable, cos it’s just you, your body is the instrument. But I always had confidence in my voice, if I had the right song, the right words to sing.

I’m very thankful to San Diego for the musical opportunities it gave me.

I think part of my job as a songwriter is to go back in my memory and pull up those pains for other people because somebody else is going to come along who didn’t have a good issue with their father.

Being a singer, it’s feast or famine. You have to hit it when it’s hot.

I’ve always thought that a Saturday morning at home should be education time. I mean fun education, for example learning to cook a dish or reading about something new. So I put on documentaries, get a bunch of magazines and newspapers and use the morning to make myself better.

I’m happiest in nature, in trees, rivers, streams, and I’m happiest around my kid – you know that’s the funny thing, he is not always in the best of moods, but I am always happiest around him and in nature. Around my family is where I am happiest.

The best career advice was to sing with an understanding and internalise the music – that was my mother’s advice. Sing with intention, believe what it is you’re saying, and think about it, before you sing it.

Music that speaks of politics is less listened to than the music of partying, but it’s still there.

Nat King Cole’s lyrics were speaking to me, almost like fatherly advice, when I was listening to him alongside the console stereo player. So that music and that influence comes out of me.

I’m really just a singer that’s trying to make some music that strikes to the heart.

There were some things in my childhood I thought we’d put to sleep. The idea of one race’s supremacy over another. I thought the issue of colour would be put to sleep by the time I had a son. And that’s maybe why I had a kid so late.

There’s a lot of female singers and I don’t want to dismiss them, but the male – and I have to be careful – the black male voice in jazz, whatever you say, is an important voice, because there’s a tradition of the music that should be touched on, there’s a sound that should be touched on.

A Change Is Gonna Come’ has always been a powerful song for me as it comes from a place of vulnerability.

I’m very grateful for the success of ‘Take Me to the Alley.’ The chart position it’s reached around the world is very exciting, and its success is an example of the acceptance of my music. I am very thankful.

I was quite shy as a child. My sisters were the gang leaders, my brothers were the enforcers and I was a tag-a-long.

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

As well as having a really strong message, sometimes an artist needs to couple their sentiment with something that’s soulful and groovy to listen to.

I can be a bit nerdy so I need a good, clearly marked map, as you can miss out on some of the coolest places in Amsterdam if you don’t have a wander down the little side streets.

What makes jazz different is that you can’t predict it, it’s all about freedom. Just when you think you know what you’re going to hear there’ll be a left turn, a jazz musician will change it up.

I think sometimes you can be around somebody and take in certain energy and read certain things and you don’t know why your neck is stiff. But if you can recognise the negativity, once you identify it and you know what you are dealing with you can make a point to counteract it with a different energy.

‘Take Me to the Alley’ is about trying to uplift the lives of people who have been afflicted, maybe the homeless or somebody with an illness, or maybe they’re refugees.