When I lost the use of my hi-hat and bass drum legs, I became basically a singer. I was a drummer who did a bit of singing, and then I became a singer who did a bit of percussion.
I think I was super young when I decided I wanted to be in music and be a singer.
Don’t expect fame to come overnight. That filtered through to me in my own career. Look at Madonna: she’s not the best singer in the world, but she’s got where she has through hard work.
I’ve often cringed when I heard myself described as a jazz singer. I’ve always thought of myself as a jazz vocalist.
It’s not some great work of beauty and love to be a rock-and-roll singer.
Thousands of kids and parents come up to us and say, How do we get better as a singer?
There’s always a host of voices you’re inspired by. I love Don DeLillo, and I love Isaac Bashevis Singer, and I love Beckett, and I love Pinter. He’s one of the funniest voices in English literature since Dickens.
I did record a bunch of stuff, but the thing that usually stops me from doing that is that I’m a terrible singer. I made a bunch of instrumental music, and it feels really good, but just as a singer, I’m not good.
America? They had a good girl singer, Janis Joplin.
Never say that your life is to be a singer. You want to sing because it’s a part of your life. But if you don’t succeed as a singer, it doesn’t mean you don’t have a life and it’s over.
Dave Van Ronk, for those who don’t know him – probably most don’t know – was a folk singer. He’s kind of the biggest person on the scene in 1961 in the folk revival in Greenwich Village, biggest person on the scene until Bob Dylan showed up.
Sly Stone made such a huge contribution to the good feeling in the universe, and I love him as a singer.
I wish I could sing. I don’t technically have a terrible voice, but it’s certainly not as good as most of my friends. Whenever I hear myself on a record, it just reminds me I’m not a very good singer.
I’ve always been a bit of an orphan, because actors say, ‘Well, he’s more of a dancer.’ And dancers say, ‘No. He’s really a singer.’ And singers say, ‘No. He’s an actor.’
In his enigmatic and cunning story ‘The Crown of Feathers,’ Isaac Bashevis Singer refuses to produce uncontradictory evidence of God’s will but rather mixes all signals, jams the evidence, stalls every conclusion.
I’m not a singer who plays a bit of drums. I’m a drummer that sings a bit.
There’s a new hit rock group or singer every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever.
As a singer, I float around. I’m kind of scatty, bouncing around a lot. I try to adapt to what’s going on around me in the song and the arrangement.
Whether you want to be a good actor or singer, you need to be responsible and professional – and you have to learn to work well with other people and be a team player.
The greatness of Mac Rebennack, alias, Dr. John, also known as John Crieux, rests on his command of the musical use of idiomatic expression. Not a technically well-endowed singer, nor a great songwriter, he leaves his mark through the discipline and control he exerts over all that he touches.
I always knew that I wanted to work and I knew I wanted to be a singer and an actor. I knew that every choice I made would help me get to that point. So the better the choices I made, the more of a chance I would have to get to where I wanted to be.
The lead singer for Deerhunter, Bradford Cox… I don’t like saying people are geniuses or whatever, but I just think that dude is so good at every single thing he does. He stays within his genre, but I think he does so well experimenting with stuff.
Originally I considered myself a singer.
There are people who’ll dismiss me as ‘just’ a singer. That’s how it is, how it’s always been, but just because I’m not hunched over a piece of paper with a pen in my hand doesn’t mean I’m not putting in the graft.
I’m not the best singer in the world, but the albums have always been personal. They’re stories about me and what I’m going through.
I’m a singer and a writer first. I started to rap by accident, being playful.
I do know a good singer when I hear one.
I can only say the first thing that pops into my mind is I remember, years ago, seeing kind of a has-been country singer working – when I first moved to Nashville – in a bar in a Holiday Inn.
I remember the first time somebody played me Janis Joplin. My friend Donna put on Janis Joplin, and she said, ‘You’re like her.’ At the time, I wasn’t even a singer; I was a drummer. I just wanted to play the drums.
Every singer eventually gets around to a Christmas disc.
Like all soul singers, I grew up singing in church but sometimes I would leave early and sit in the car listening to gospel band, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Hearing their lead singer Clarence made me connect the idea of church and show business and see how I could make a career singing music that stirred the soul.
I am huge fan of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hassan. Listening to these people inspired me to become a singer.
I just knew that was what I wanted to do. I was going to perform as a singer; I was going to perform as a dancer, and I was, you know, going to do movies and be an actress. I was going to do it or die trying. That’s what my life was.
I’d like to be remembered as a premier singer of songs, not just a popular act of a given period.
As a singer I tried on all these hats, these voices, these clothes, and eventually out came me.
Artie is a singer, and I’m a writer and player and a singer. We didn’t work together on a creative level and prepare the songs. I did that.
I really don’t think of myself as a singer. I think of myself as an entertainer, and the best place I do it is onstage.
I’d say music runs in my blood. My parents are exceptionally talented singers, so even before I was born, it was a known fact to them that I’d become a singer. Thanks to my genes, I started off at the age of three and since then, music has meant everything to me.
An opera singer is like an athlete before a match. An athlete cannot overdo anything. In order to perform at the highest possible level, you need to refrain from activities so as to be able to express this power.
I have not practiced how to be a singer without an instrument.
I never wanted to be an opera singer. I wanted to be an actress, maybe a rock singer.
The very first show I did was ‘Fame L.A.’ Everyone had talent… it was either dancing or acting or something like that. I was a singer, so I got my first role.
Until now, I’ve not done a project where the produce, rapper and singer has never worked together like this before, and I had a chance to try a variety of styles.
There is nothing to compare with the instantaneous feedback a singer gets from the people sitting in front of him. That is where it all comes together – all the rehearsing and working to get everything just exactly right.
When grandpa was ill and could’ve died, I would have swapped all my record sales so he could get well. He is the reason I am a singer. He was my best friend growing up.
I think if you are going to be a singer, you should sing. If you are going to be a dancer, you should dance. If you are going to do a combination of the two, you should make it very clear when you are singing and very clear when you are dancing.
Yeah… I was a singer as a kid. I had a lot of stage fright, and what’s happened with ‘Idol,’ it has got me past so much of that.
In the life of a singer, it’s not all triumphs and happy memories; there are days you have to go out there when it’s the last thing you feel like doing.
My great-grandmother was born in London, the daughter of a Brixton coachman, and became the most famous singer in Australia. Her name was Marie Carandini, Madame Carandini.
There’s room in the world for one historical folk-rock singer to make a decent living, and I happen to be it.
If you were a pretty boy pop singer, it would wreck you, growing older.
There was a time when a musician was forced to act in a video. Seeing a singer step too far outside of his comfort zone to pour all of his high-school-drama angst into a poorly scripted scenario was a sight to behold.
I think I’m the only singer who doesn’t have a temper. The only time I got angry was at a music studio when I was made to wait for three hours without being informed about the delay in the recording.
Bobby had faith in my ability as a singer.
I’m not a great lover of Madonna’s voice. She’s done very well with what she’s got, and I’m sure my voice turns her right off, but she’s not my favourite singer.
George Jones was my all-time favorite singer and one of my favorite people in the world.
I don’t know if I should say this, but I feel more like a singer than an artist.
When Mohammed Rafi was not an active playback singer, Kishore Kumar dominated the scene and vice-versa.
I’m not a very typical singer.
The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count.
I was always one of those fortunate people who never wanted to be anything other than a singer and an actor. Most people know me as a singer, but I am also an actor.
I was never a singer; I can’t play any instruments; I had no training. Plus, I was brought up in a time when all the great rock stars were male. I didn’t have any template for what I was doing. I did what I did out of frustration and concern.
