Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've lost a few notes on the top. But I've gained a little insight about what makes people comfortable when they're listening or watching a performance of mine. It usually has to do with singing something that isn't vocally too strenuous.
I don't think you get to good writing unless you expose yourself and your feelings. Deep songs don't come from the surface; they come from the deep down. The poetry and the songs that you are suppose to write, I believe are in your heart.
I'm in the camp that needs to discover and take risks, sometimes it's with the promise of something special and new, sometimes it's to stay awake, either way it's much more stressful with all the uncertainty but worth the pain in the end.
You know I don't have any gimmicks really. I don't have any silly things that I say; I don't know, I guess I'm just going to have a really hot dress and a nice pair of shoes and just go out there and look fabulous and try to sing my best.
I think maybe because of the kind of music I sing, people want to believe you're a diva. They can't believe after eight years, and eight albums, you're still relatively sane. I feel like they almost want me to throw something at somebody.
I didn't like any British music before The Beatles. For me, it was all about black American music. But then I became a successful pop singer, even though the kind of music I liked was more elitist, which is what I'm trying to get back to.
I don't think I'll ever do a record that's just the same song over and over again because I'd like to think about it like it's an album and a snapshot of everything that makes you who you are and where you're at at that time in your life.
If the education of our kids comes from radio, television, newspapers - if that's where they get most of their knowledge from, and not from the schools, then the powers that be are definitely in charge, because they own all those outlets.
I stand behind what I say. If I don't want it to be out there then I won't say it. I am not out to hurt somebody. I am out to call attention to certain things but I am also out to make people laugh with my delivery and style of bluntness.
I remember I wanted to be an athlete. I wanted to be in the NFL or NBA or something, and I don't think I dreamed of being a benchwarmer. I'm sure I wanted to be the best. But I didn't really ever think I was going to be a famous musician.
Love in capital letters is important. It is impossible to live without love. You must have the feeling of being loved. All artists need love - from the audience, friends and relatives. But true and faithful friends are exceptionally rare.
I would just sweat so much. I'd be dry when I run on the stage. By the time I got in front of the microphone, it just, just like a river pouring out. I don't know what made that happen. It took five years for that to stop happening to me.
I grew up on rap and hip-hop and fell into dance music. Hip-hop died down, and I moved more into dance music, disco and house. It feels very natural. My rhythm growing up on hip-hop and R&B was cool, fresh, and I feel comfortable with it.
When you have a cavity in your tooth and you let it get worse, eventually you have to get a root canal. If you have something that isn't right, the earlier you treat it the easier the treatment is going to be. That's kind of common sense.
Although I managed my schedule to be home by late afternoon most days, basically, Roselle raised our children alone. And so I missed out on a lot of wonderful moments, missed watching my kids grow into the wonderful people they are today.
I live in the country, so I get a fair amount of exercise. We heat our house with wood, so I split wood. We also live on a steep hill, and I have to rake and put in cross-stitches to keep the road from washing out when there's a big rain.
I would love to be like Justin Bieber or Selena Gomez. They were catapulted into stardom when they were so young - like I was - and they still haven't gone down the wrong path and I hope neither or them will. I find that really inspiring.
Ive got tapes that Im so thankful that my father made - old reel-to-reel tapes. Ive got a ton of those things at home. He kept those like fine diamonds, I mean he kept them, you know, in a box and was very, very careful of them, you know.
Bun E.'s a member of the band, but he's not touring, and he's not recording... We've had our differences, but we're all settled up now, and hopefully we can forget about that era. These decisions that Cheap Trick makes, Bun E. is part of.
I thought I'd go away and make one album, but it was extended. The album did so well, and they wanted another album. I was on a high. You make hay while the sun shines, and I was doing it, and you think about yourself; that's what you do.
I never got to meet Michael Jackson, and he's gone - so to be on stage with Prince was like if Michael... you know what I'm saying? And Prince, he's just such a warmhearted guy. He's so humble. He's such a spiritual man. I like his style.
My fans -- when I see them somewhere, outside my concerts -- I get that, that vibe. They're really supporting my projects and everything, because it's a first time that a Turkish singer is, you know, able to express himself out of Turkey.
I think that if someone plays a video game, and then goes out and harms another human being, or themselves because of what they just saw in the video game, they were screwed up in the head long before they got their hands on a controller.
My eyes went blank, and I stared off, and the music started. It was raining, and the sun was shining at the same time, and there were these big bay windows, and there was the blue in the sky, and the sun on the trees, and it was drizzling.
One of the hardest things in the world is to perform on record and get someone to enjoy and feel what you're doing. It's unlike, like TV you can, you can fake it with the face and the crying and the bits. Recording is completely different.
I love to deer hunt and fish and drive down the back roads in my truck. All those things basically equal freedom to me - and not having to return that message or call from my record company or management. At some point, I need to recharge.
The thing that got me started on Twitter was just basically pressure from management and the record company saying, 'Hey, this is what all the other artists are doing. You need to be doing it also.' I didn't really have a clue what is was.
I saw an Elvis Presley movie Jailhouse Rock, where he gets out of jail and makes his own records and takes them to the radio stations himself. And then, he puts records in the store. After seeing that, I made records an put them in stores.
When I grew up, it was a time when women were just supposed to be cute and not have many opinions. My mother and her friends were quite different. They were all the most beautiful women you've ever seen ... and they were very strong women.
I'm part of the party, getting the crowd fired up, singing songs, pouring drinks, whatever it takes to get them to have a good time. When I walk into the meet-and-greet, someone's always going to have a story, a sad story or a happy story.
My guitar, it was new when I got it, but it has a hole like Willie's where it's just worn out from my pinky going back and forth over the wood over all these years. I got Willie Nelson to sign that spot on my guitar. I'm a huge fan of him.
I was born into a family of gospel singers. My early ambitions were many. I was going to be a ballerina. I almost had that one come true until I tore a tendon, so I transferred from my toes to my throat and that's where the talent settled.
A guest star is a whole different responsibility. It's much different than being a regular. You come in and it's a lot of unfamiliar faces and you want to try to fit in as best you can, but also you want to stay there without making waves.
A lot of people think that there has to be extreme continuity in an album, but if you look at my background, it's variety! I want to see some variety in an artist, I want to be entertained, I want some depth. Show me some different styles!
The main idea of it was to multiply everything, to have a bigger sound and grow venue size and grow fan base. As for a lyrical theme of the album [named "X"], it's just diary entries; it's just kind of like three years of my life in songs.
Someone once told me: 'Luck is when opportunity meets preparation'. And that's what I really feel with my music. I've worked really, really hard on it. It was like, 'this is really what I want to do.. what do I have to do to make it work?'
It doesn't surprise me that people can't see beyond my image. It's amazing, but I can understand it. That's what image is for. But it's never a problem for me. It's only a problem for them. I don't really care. I do what I want regardless.
I was staying at my friend's house and he told me about the drug Prednisone. It took me 14 years to discover it. And there are a lot of times that would have helped me out over the years. I can't believe I'd never even heard of it, though.
I come from a sense of struggle, a sense of using the instruments that were given to me to manipulate the environment in which I found myself, and joined up with those who are equally as skillful at manipulating that environment, as was I.
New Orleans is my essence, my soul, my muse, and I can only dream that one day she will recapture her glory. I will do everything within my power to make that happen and to help in any way I can to ease the suffering of my city, my people!
I do consider myself Canadian, but I feel American, too. I've spent more than fifteen years in each of the two countries, so really I just think of myself as a dual citizen, which is what I am. Thankfully, I've never been forced to choose!
I don't think I did write any poems to fill narrative gaps. Not consciously, anyway. As much as possible, I try to discover my poems' subject matter through the act of writing, instead of deciding ahead of time what my poems will be about.
Even the most Bush-happy, flag suckling jack-arse knows deep-down inside that something is wrong. America is over and everyone knows it. The New World Order has a dying empire odor and changing the channel ain't going to make this go away.
It's not like you're being fake, it's just the way you color it, like a guitar player uses pedals or different effects. That's why I get so mad about people who are down on vocal reverb. It's not a crutch, people, it's an aesthetic choice!
I was on one bus with my band and crew for seven years. I didn't come to town with a karaoke tape. I didn't get on a TV show. There were no shortcuts. Anybody who wants to follow my model is welcome to it. You don't want to follow my path.
My plan is to bring back like the Bracero Program from 1944 that ran for 20 years where the Mexican government vets these people. I mean, they pay for it, and they get green cards, and they're actually legitimate. And then seal the border.
That's the government. Having been a politician and a musician, I can tell you which one is a higher calling. If musicians ran the country, it would be a much different place. We wouldn't get a lot done in the mornings, but we'd work late.
I'm very comfortable in my skin. Everyone has insecurities - I joke around about wishing I had more cheeks - but I'm happy with who I am. You have to make do with what you have. If you carry yourself right, you can make anything look good.
I believe in equality for everyone. I believe everyone should have the right to love and commit to whomever they want. [...] All I know is that in God's eyes we are all the same. I just wish we could see through the eyes of God more often.
I'm so honored that there are people, peers, that I'm inspired by and looked up to for years and actually want me to do my thing with them. It's quite the honor, and it's been wonderful to see everybody's fan base kind of melting together.