I love Ray Charles. He can still teach everybody a lot about how to make great music. Not necessarily how to make hits, but how to make great music. Of course, part of it is his incredible talent. Who are the greatest jazz singers in the world? Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles.
Ahmet Ertegun
Every good gospel singer you can hear is a scat singer; they're just using different syllables. There are a lot of jazz singers out there, and more coming out of the churches.
Al Jarreau
I am inspired by all kinds of players and singers.
And the thing that I always tried to do with important singers when I met them was to sit down and record everything they knew, give them a first real run-through of their art.
Alan Lomax
I'm a fan of real singers. I just gravitate towards that.
Alessia Cara
It took me a while to really believe in myself or feel determined about it, but then once I realized that it's possible for anyone, and these people who are singers started off very normal... I realized that it was not that hard to do.
Often you get wonderful singers who maybe aren't as strong as actors, or you get wonderful actors who can't sing very well.
Alexander Hanson
Like Juan Gabriel and Ana Gabriel, both singers and songwriters of legendary talent, Marco Antonio has reshaped a kind of Mexican romanticism. What he brings to pop music is the kind of songs that really talk to people's hearts.
Alicia Villarreal
I think a lot of singers are shy people. I suppose singing on stage is not like talking; you are not as exposed.
Alison Goldfrapp
I've seen a couple of singer switches happen right before my eyes, one being Roy Khan to Tommy Karevik in Kamelot, and the other was Anette Olzon to Floor Jansen in Nightwish. Those happened with me present, and I saw how well the fans took to these singers because they were presented in the proper way.
Alissa White-Gluz
I never pursued voice hard enough. I've done musicals here and there, but I was never dedicated to really being one of these fantastic, operatic kind of singers that you have to be in some of these musicals.
Allison Tolman
Yes, because as composers we are looking for textured voices, and often the singers we find are not trained to perform in a studio environment. So we need technology to doctor their voices to suit the format.
Amit Trivedi
For creators, especially for me as a composer, I am sure for singers also, it is sad. It is not exciting that we have to create something that someone else has already done before.
My father had lived in the States in the 1960s for a while and came to love American Songbook material. Even today, he sometimes recognizes singers that I never even heard of, which is beautiful and inspiring.
Anat Cohen
My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.
Andra Day
Actors and singers share common ground in that they both express something.
The most widely criticised singers in the history of opera, Maria Callas and Franco Corelli, happen also to be the best singers. I am honoured for being part of their group.
Andrea Bocelli
It's always beautiful to sing with other great voices. I like voices in general. It's a big privilege to have great singers next to me.
As for singers, I'm fond of Mohit Chauhan.
Anirudh Ravichander
People are getting more used to another language; that's how I learned English and Spanish. I listened to other singers and tried to sing with them. Of course, I studied it, and I took classes, but music helps me a lot.
Anitta
Lots of opera singers are just boring.
There are two types of conductors. One is the good conductor who can do passionate music but also listen to the singers and do the orchestra. And then there are great conductors, who have their own opinion on the music, who are ruling everything - and not listening much to the singers, but the orchestra play amazingly.
When I started, my teachers told me that I had to sing 'Mozart, Mozart, Mozart.' I said, 'No, I want to sing all the other stuff.' If you do not push yourself, you will stay the same. Maybe some singers are happy with that, but I have to move, I have to do something new always.
Donna Summer was one of the strongest female singers in pop music. She was very underrated as a vocalist and a writer, and her songbook is just outrageous.
I had this voice when I was in high school, except nobody thought much of it then. I developed it by imitating singers I admired - Alison Moyet, Boy George, later on Nina Simone.
I have often heard the statement made by foreign singers, as a demonstrated fact, that the German artists are artists in feeling indeed, and serious in their devotion, but that their singing is crude.
My mentor was Clara Ward of the famous Ward gospel singers of Philadelphia. And my dad was my coach. He coached me. And just my natural love for music is what drove me.
There's a lot of great singers out here.
You have singers that are trained, and then you have natural singers: people that, in my opinion, were just born to sing. And hopefully, I am one of them.
I'm so thankful for the Internet because actors and singers and performers now have a way to connect with their fans on a very personal level which I think is quite special.
Reality shows give a great platform to young singers, but kids shouldn't be exposed to showbiz at a very young age.
When I joined the music scene, a lot of big-ticket singers were not getting good work... It was a lean phase.
Singers are definitely getting their due in Bollywood. I feel that music composers, on the other hand, tend to lose out on the popularity, fame, and success that singers usually enjoy.
I think that live shows are more important for singers than composers, because composers still get a lot of recognition as compared to a singer.
I want to lead the pack in the process of making Indian singers bigger than actors internationally.
In our country, singers are known as the voice of actors.
Those who are not trained singers will find that their voice quavers. That should not happen. The quaver should be used only where necessary and not because a singer cannot hold a note or a tune.
Hindi film music has always been completely driven by the plot. We singers never had any say in compositions.
I feel blessed and lucky that some of the film industry's most magical and iconic songs where legendary composers and singers have collaborated have been filmed on me.
I never thought about making music because it has to be a hit. There are so many better singers out there who are better trained in music, but I am probably the chosen one... I have not discovered any formula for staying relevant.
I think I've been able to connect with people and their emotions through my songs. I feel honoured that despite having so many talented singers around, my work is always appreciated.
I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I've never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I've wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn't work.
Hindi film songs are the best of everything - whether it is lyrics, melody and talented singers.
When people are training to become singers, they all have moments when they hit a wall.
My parents, Aparesh and Bansari Lahiri were very famous singers from Kolkata.
Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and I were the first female headliners, where we would book our own opening acts. Before that, it was a standing joke that it was more like we had 'pretty little girl singers' opening for a male headliner.
I have so much respect for the big opera singers that I never dare to say I'm a singer.
In my vocal, I think you can hear something of my earlier times when I'd sing in subway halls for the echo and perform doo-wop on street corners. But I had a lot of influences, too - singers like Sam Cooke, Brook Benton and Roy Hamilton.
He was a manager, one of the singers, I guess talent coordinator for the local talent in Harlem. His name was Lover Patterson. He was living right across the street from where my dad had his restaurant. I guess he saw a lot of kids come in, a lot of my buddies.
The mistake British comedians often make is trying to beat the Americans at their own game - getting visiting American singers on their shows, talking about 'sidewalk' instead of 'pavement,' sitting on high stools in a white dinner jacket doing ballads. That way, you simply end up with a mid-Atlantic mishmash.
