I know my own weaknesses as a human being, and as a musician, as a singer and as a woman.
I didn’t think I had a voice at all, and I still think of myself as an interpreter of songs more than a singer. I thought it was too deep; people thought I was a man. I had a very strong Jamaican accent, too; the accent really messed me up for auditions.
I am a singer and dancer, and I’ve been perfecting it for a lot of years.
Yes, my mother was a singer, and my father played piano and keyboards. They were in a band together, though they also had regular jobs because they had kids and stuff like that.
Being a singer is all about me. About ego. Being a mom is all about being selfless – two different worlds.
I was a shy kid, but somehow I knew I would make it as a performer. I’d always be telling my mum that I was going to be a famous singer. In my school yearbooks I would write, ‘Remember me when I’m famous.’ I knew I had a gift.
Frank Sinatra was a great singer, but my favourite is Sammy Davis Jr. He had incredible versatility in his voice, often doing impressions of people. It’s always going to be classic, and you’ll never get bored listening.
I’d been a wedding singer through college, but after a few years of doing my best renditions of jazz standards to clinking glasses and the sound of forks on salad, I thought, ‘Oh God, if this is all I do, I’ll never be able to live with myself.’
People love me when I do selfie videos, so I know they like me in music videos as well. Otherwise, I would have just been a playback singer.
As Buddy Rich, for instance, broke into the business at the age of three, I think it was, on drums, so indeed did I break into the business at the age of four as a singer.
I never said that I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid. I didn’t know. I thought I was going to be a singer and musician. That’s what I had been doing, for a huge part of my life.
I remember being a bathtub singer. You know, the type that sings and everybody’s like, ‘Shut up.’
Every technology that comes into filmmaking is first a gimmick. Think about sound with ‘The Jazz Singer’ or the first colour or surround sound – it takes a while for filmmakers to understand how to use it.
If I stop practising, I will be an average singer. There are a lot of singers I know who hardly practise, yet sing well.
My mother had been a country and western singer but when she moved out to Hollywood found it very difficult to get work so when I was born they put me into dance classes and singing classes as soon as I could walk actually.
My mother, Evelyn, was an actress and singer, and my father, Jack, was an actor. My earliest recollection of my father is being taken to see him in a matinee.
I always wanted to be a singer, it’s what I wanted to do since I was little. I’m doing it now and I couldn’t be happier.
Like a lot of young lads who dreamt about being a singer, I was a massive fan of Robbie Williams and couldn’t believe my luck when, not only did I get to meet my idol, but sing with him, too.
I’d love to work with Tweet. She’s my favorite singer, and I’d love to do a song with her even though she’s out of my league.
Technique is the basis of every pursuit. If you’re a sportsman or you’re a singer or a swimmer, well that comes under sport but you have to develop a basic technique to know what you’re doing at any given time.
I’m not a trained musician or singer, but I can turn out a song.
I wasn’t actually trained by my mother, she said she never taught me but she was a great singer herself and I can’t remember when I didn’t listen to her sing and imitate her.
Any of Bette Midler’s concerts should be required viewing for every actor/performer. She has the audience in the palm of her hands at all times and can switch emotions on a dime: Great singer, great actress, great comedian – fearless.
If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.
Adele shattered the image of how the stereotypical singer is supposed to look. She has that whole ‘Screw you, I’m awesome for what I do’ attitude, which I really look up to and want to be a part of.
As soon as you get off stage, that’s the most dangerous time for a singer to kiss people because your vocal chords are receptive to any kind of germ.
I’m a true singer who grew up singing in church, so I love singing my heart out.
When I was very young I wanted to be a professional horseback rider. Then I wanted to be a pop singer. Then I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then I wanted to be a movie director.
I find writing songs hard, because it does not come naturally to me. I never set out to be a songwriter or a singer.
Producing isn’t just making beats on a beat machine. It’s bringing together these string players with this flute player and this singer, and telling them to all work in the key of C major… You bring these people together and let them all cook.
The first thing I wanted to be was an actor, even before I wanted to be a singer, before I discovered I could sing.
Although I’d always wanted children, it was such an opposite thing to being a singer.
I still sing, but completely for my own pleasure. I play a nightclub singer in ‘Sparkle,’ but I’d like to pursue it a bit more. I sang at a friend’s 60th at Claridge’s the other month; I did ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ with the actor Hilton McRae, and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’
I’m not a fitness model; I’m just a singer. If people focus on that, that’s what I care about.
You can have favorites but sometimes, when a singer or a composer comes up with a great song, you acknowledge it.
I’m not a folk or jazz singer, more a hard-edged pop singer – with some rock, and song hooks.
I don’t really like to call myself a brand, and I don’t like to think of myself as a brand. I’m a singer, a songwriter, a musician and a performer. And an actress, and all the other things that I do. When you add it all together, some might call it a brand, but that’s not my focus.
Well I’m not much of a singer. But it’s been a really nice time to do film, television, theater and have it all happening at once. That wasn’t planned but it just happens.
And, you know, I never wanted to be a singer.
I never thought of myself as a singer, like ever, ever, ever. It’s hysterical that I sing.
I think I’m a soulful singer.
To stay a great singer or guitar player, you’ve got to do it 24/7. That’s what I do.
I started my career as a singer in Japan, but left it all behind to focus on my dancing career.
I come from the ghetto in Brazil, where we don’t have a lot of career opportunities, so I’m sure my family and people who live there never imagined that one day I’d become a singer and be able to perform at an event like the Olympics.
Obviously, I’m not a singer. I don’t consider myself a singer.
There were a couple of years when I wanted to be a football player, but I really always wanted to be a singer.
I’m really into a blush on the eyelid and on the high of the cheek. The singer of ‘Cocteau Twins’ used to do that – really pink eyelids. It added a little romance to the hard kind of street-edge clothes.
I don’t think it’s important to be that good at singing. I think people who are good at singing sing backing vocals for pop stars. It’s about how you project. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a singer.
I am an actress first, a singer second.
These songs are old friends I have entertained myself with when I’m washing the dishes, driving to the store and walking down the aisles. The ones that you sing when you’re driving in the car and as a singer you always go back to them.
Being a singer now I have to get all fussy… I must have my ginger and lemon and all that.
To be honest, I think that I am a bit of a singer, coming from Wales; being Welsh, we are all very proud of our singing heritage.
My acting ability would have sent me back to the post office. It was my singing that got me jobs. Ironically, now, people think of me as an actor and don’t know me much as a singer.
‘Let’s Get Harry’ was where I met Bob Singer and worked with him for the first time, and then ‘Reasonable Doubts’ was the second time, and there was a thing after that called ‘Charlie Grace’ that was the third time. I liked working with Bob. A nice man and a good partner.
People think you have to go through a lot of changes to become a soul singer, You just have to go through life.
My dad sung and played piano. But he was also a man of God. He was a minister. So when Sam Cooke would come in town, you know, with The Soul Stirrers at that time, he was singing gospel, they would end up at my dad’s church, and it would always be a guest singer for Sunday morning.
I’m not a jazz singer.
It’s funny, I guess when I was growing up, I didn’t really think about being an instrumentalist, per se. I didn’t think, well, I want to be a piano player, or, I want to be a guitar player, or even, I want to be a singer. I just wanted to be a musician.
Music was my passion, and I started out as a singer. It’s just natural to me to keep pursuing my music career.
My personal life is the same. At the end of the day, this is just a job. I love what I do, and it’s a great job. But it’s like my alter ego. There’s Chris Brown the singer. And there’s Christopher Brown, the down-home Tappahannock boy that plays video games and basketball and hangs out.
