Singers Quotations | Page 5

With Bach, there's always something more, another level. I can do it (the 'St. John Passion') for the rest of my life and find something more. . . . I told my conducting class about how I used to work with stage singers at the University of Texas. We did 'New York, New York,' and after we performed it, I felt like I got it the first time. Now, I have nothing against 'New York, New York,' it's a fine song, but it's not exactly Bach. Bach's 'Passion' is truly inspired art.

The past is filled with people who aren't traditionally thought of as fantastic singers singing these songs that capture people; songs like 'Louie Louie.' I just aim toward that, and I think I've gotten better at it.

When she sings, she embodies the song in ways that many singers don't. I thought, 'I bet she can act.' And she can.

There is a lot of propaganda about opera singers not being able to act. That's not necessarily true and hasn't been true for a very long time. And certainly there were those instances when singers were told they need to fit into a certain size dress. Of course, women. Men? They just make the costume bigger.

We singers have a different level of responsibility from other musicians. We have words that we must convey; we have meanings that we must convey through these lyrics.

Even though they are less polished, there are some terrific singers in there.

And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi; / Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.

Earlier, I know of instances where singers like Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar even stopped recording till they got their preparation right

The results seems to be a matter of memory. We asked people to name the century's best male and female singers and for some their memories didn't extend back more than a decade or a year.

There's still a lot of great songwriters out there who hand in songs. And there's a lot of brilliant singers and performers out there who sing other people's words. I enjoy doing both.

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.

The singers will be very disappointed if they don't reach people on an emotional level.

The singers have a reverence and awe for him.

The singers are genuinely psyched to be here, especially those who've sung (in Denver) before,

The take (of 'Hey Joe') that we're listening to on the box set has an earlier version of the backup singers singing a little out of key and not quite what they wanted,

Often you get wonderful singers who maybe aren't as strong as actors, or you get wonderful actors who can't sing very well.

A fellow Detroiter, Wilson Pickett was one of the greatest soul singers of all time. He will absolutely be missed. I am thankful that I got the chance to speak to him not too long ago.

Aretha Franklin, she's just the most amazing singer ever. But I think there are so many singers that I just loved and sang along to on the radio. I guess I just enjoy trying out different styles along the way.

You're one of the most natural, great singers I've heard in a long time.

They are both such good singers and musicians. It will be a real treat to have them back.

They're ensuring themselves some type of audience. People get to see these singers each week. Maybe it legitimizes the process because a new lead singer won't be sprung on everyone all of a sudden.

There's a lot of really good singers we were turning down because of the age limit, and we realized it was silly. You're certainly not over the hill by 28.

It was filmed at 7 o'clock in the morning. It had to be edited and on a plane to New York by 5 p.m.. It was worse for the singers - they'd have to get up at 4 o'clock. That whole side of it was very non-rock 'n' roll.

It's not like we just changed a rapper for a singer, ... We happen to have one of the greatest rock singers of all time.

It's good fun and it gives validity to the program. You need the bad singers to give the good singers attention.

Edward's qualities as a musician and his natural rapport with both singers and creative teams make his appointment a major coup for ENO.

Everybody I've ever seen live sings out of tune, even the greatest singers in the world. And of course if you make a single nowadays, they'll autotune it anyway.

The auditions have become an exciting annual event for the team and our fans. We always enjoy giving some very talented singers the opportunity to audition for a chance to perform at the ballpark.

It was my contention that opera can not only pay for itself if it is well given, but it can also command a much wider audience if given like a play with lots of rehearsals and wonderful singers that fit the role.

I try to always motivate young kids who want to be singers or actors or whatever it is they want to be that anything is possible with hard work. It doesn't matter where you're from or what language you speak - as long as you work hard, you can achieve those goals.

The falsetto stuff, it must be a reaction to the black gospel singers that I really enjoy listening to.

I never call myself a singer, ever. I never will. I've always been really embarrassed about my voice. I've never been confident about it. I think it's a little bit better now than when I first started. There are people I admire who are genuinely brilliant singers and I know the difference between what they can do and what I can do.

In June, they were here looking for hand drummers. African percussionists. Meaning, they play drums not with sticks but with their bare hands. The musicians and singers will work not only in the park, but also at the two hotels.

I grew up in eastern Kentucky, and we would sing in the churches, and there's lots of good mountain church singers out there. Like a lot of folks who turn out to be secular music artists, that's a lot of the training you put in, whether you know it or not.

I originally wanted to be an opera singer. I studied classical voice at the University of Washington but soon realised I didn't have the instrument or the discipline. The road for opera singers is more difficult than for actors.

If you look back, you get stuck in a year. I've seen rappers and singers get stuck in 2002 or 2005, and they can't get out.

I reformed the Hot Licks, and in essence it was just adding girl singers for the first time in decades and hitting the road, playing out a lot with this six-piece band. The advice through the years had been to have girl singers with me again, so I did that.

I just essentially stayed at home for three years and just learned to play as many instruments as I could and listened to as many singers as I could. Like, when I got to about 19/20, I started listening to singers. I normally just listened to bands. Now I listen to a lot of old singers, not a lot of new stuff.

I realized very early on . . . that (Marley) was going to be one of the most important singers in the world. He was the one that broke through and took reggae music global.

I'm called a folk singer, and I'm not too sure about that. I went about my life approaching music not from the point of view of a singer, but from the point of view of an actor. That's how I first started to sing.

I didn't even respect singers until I heard Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.

There is a British pop group called God. At a recent book signing the lead singer introduced himself and gave me a cassette. I have heard the voice of God.

I should have been a country-western singer. After all, I'm older than most western countries.

The loudest psalm singer in the congregation always is a reformed sinner.

My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy,

Each time a mediocre singer performs, he is saying, in effect, "This is good enough for you." The audience, thrust into that familiar American mood of knowing something is wrong but not knowing what it is, unconsciously absorbs the insult and projects it back onto the mediocre performer in the form of inattention, rudeness and noise.

Nathan McEuen's light is shining bright. A fine singer, guitarist and an excellent songwriter. There is hope on the horizon.

I listen to Mark Chestnutt and think he's a great singer - and he really does good material.

For my money Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.

I'm just a singer, Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture.

The only male singer who I've seen besides myself and who's better than me--that is Michael Jackson.

My greatest teacher was not a vocal coach, not the work of other singers, but the way Tommy Dorsey breathed and phrased on the trombone.

I wasn't a great background singer.

Full lasting is the song, though he, / The singer, passes.

There are so many great singers out there.

I don't know if I should say this, but I feel more like a singer than an artist.

Many writers secretly long to be performers. You always get the 'if you weren't a writer' question. I would be a back-up singer, to stand in the back and go like 'do, do, do.

Mine is an actor's voice, not a singer's voice, but the part was written for an actor (Richard Burton), not a singer.

Ever since grammar school, I knew I wanted to be famous - I always wanted to be a singer.

We are facing a generation of young singers who are much more diminutive in their approach to singing.

I love working with the singers. I love just finding them.

Bangladesh is a world of metaphor, of high and low theater, of great poetry and music. You talk to a rice farmer and you find a poet. You get to know a sweeper of the streets and you find a remarkable singer.

I really, really love being a mum and I absolutely love being a singer so I couldn't be happier.

I wanted to be a professional singer/actress, though I knew it would be hard.

I never was a very good singer.

Robert Plant was always my favorite singer-and hes said nice things about me, you know.

Honestly, I just want to have a good time, listen to great singers and great music, and just use my instincts, as usual.

Etta James is my all-time favorite singer. I've said it in every interview, in every story, in every on- and off-camera question. That music was always such a huge escape for me, even from a young age.

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.

It's OK if Tim McGraw goes and does a movie, and it's OK if Justin Timberlake does a movie, but it's not OK for an actor to become a singer. I never understood that.

I'm a mom first, a singer second.

I deny that either singers or conductors can create or work creatively - this, as I have always said, is a conception that leads to the abyss.

I think Im different from a lot of singer-songwriters because some of my favorite singer-songwriters told stories. Like John Prine.

I'm a method actor as well as a method singer.

I'm not a singer, and I'm not a brilliant dancer.

O singers, resinous and soft your songsAbove the sacred whisper of the pines,Give virgin lips to cornfield concubines,Bring dreams of Christ to dusky cane-lipped throngs.

I think touring is one fo the funnest parts of being a singer or entertainer or whatever.

Mariah Carey is my favorite singer because her voice sounds utterly groundless. It's not even a human voice; it almost sounds mechanical.

Van Morrison remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music.

I'm not a singer, a walking instrument like Aretha Franklin. When you get an Iggy Pop record, you don't get "Iggy Sings." I am also a style of music, an approach.

I like the Stereophonics. I know the lead singer, Kelly Jones, and theres the Welsh connection.

All singers have this fault: if asked to sing among friends they are never so inclined; if unasked, they never leave off.

I'm a pretty goofy person. I'm an awkward dancer, for instance, and a terrible singer.

As a singer-songwriter who gets up on stage and sings about those things that make me vulnerable is an amazing experience. You get up on stage and effectively take your clothes off in front of thousands of people.

I used to want to be a backup singer. Not a lead singer, because I really can't sing.

For the most part, I've been influenced by black singers and singers I couldn't sound like. Whenever I tried to do a dark note or a bent note, I would just sound like Hootie And The Blowfish.

Society certainly encourages women to be victims in every way. I mean if we want approval, we have to sing the blues, even as singers we sing the blues.

I think that freshness and that innocence is something that is missing from a lot of female singers. I'm certainly not denying that I'm young, but I'm not fluff.

Well, I was in a band. I was the singer with a band called the Soul Satisfiers. I sang then quite a bit of Jazz and some Top 40 stuff.

I played a bass player and a singer in a movie once, but I totally lip-synced to everything.

I was always a singer. But I was always focused on being an actor as my trade. Music I do just for me. The movie business is very difficult but the music business is just impossible.

I'm not an actor, and I'll never call myself an actor. I've never thought of it as part of my life. I'll always be a singer, in my eyes.

I'm not known as a singer, but in life I like to do things that are a bit beyond my reach to keep myself from slipping.

I remember Elton John used to be their owner and he is my favourite singer! I hope the match will be an opportunity to meet Elton John!

So many artists who came out during that time, including myself, were able to get on radio. New forms of singer-songwriters developed out of that.

When I listen to gospel singers pouring their heart out to God, it's the act of pouring their hearts out that interests me.

My fame came from my success as a country music singer,

What actor do you really take seriously who becomes a singer? It's kind of ridiculous. I can't think of anybody.

A singer is someone who puts out an album. That's a very generous description.

Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm the same as every other female singer.