There were times, I could say, later in the career, that I wished that my voice would be deeper for materials that I might've wanted to select to do. But that's the style of my voice. There's nothing I can do about the height of my voice. And so I learned to deal with it.

Jimmy Scott

As a singer, I've been criticized for sounding feminine. They say I don't belong in any category, male or female, pop or jazz. But early on, I saw my suffering as my salvation.

Jimmy Scott

All I needed was the courage to be me. That courage took a lifetime to develop.

Jimmy Scott

I started out in the 1940s, singing around the clubs of Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up. There was a woman in showbusiness, a contortion dancer called Estelle 'Caldonia' Young - she was named after the song Caledonia Caledonia.

Jimmy Scott

I love show business. It's my life, honey, and I try to enjoy it.

Jimmy Scott

My pug dog, Princess , is something else; she's my baby. I've had her for about 14 and a half years. They usually don't live any longer than 15, but I don't believe that. As long as you treat them right, they will live a long time.

Jimmy Scott

Earlier I had been in New York, which was my first time to New York, and I got booked in the Baby Grand up in Harlem there. I was booked there for a week; they kept me there for about a month. That's where Doc Pomus and myself became very close friends and start running together around town and what not.

Jimmy Scott

Show business has always been my life. I love it. I've shared the ups and downs. So it will still be my life. It is a big piece of your life because this is all you know. It just seems like it takes you to such great heights in your life.

Jimmy Scott

I'm a cereal lover. I could eat it in the morning, in the evening, and at night - I love Cheerios.

Jimmy Scott

I was born with Kallmann syndrome. I have never complained about it, as I can't do anything to change it - and I wouldn't have acquired the voice that I have.

Jimmy Scott

I've had statements made - 'Who in the heck wants to hear a 60-year-old singer?' That statement was made - it's disheartening, you know, because you say, 'Well, hey, why should a guy feel like that about it?'

Jimmy Scott

Jeanie McCarthy is the love of my life. She's the only woman who really understands me, my music, and my heart. It took me a long time to find my soul mate, but thank God I found her before I moved to the other side of time.

Jimmy Scott

I've taken regular gigs, I've worked in grocery stores, worked as a dishwasher, a porter in different places, all for survival. I don't feel bad about doing it. I wished I could have done better. And still do.

Jimmy Scott

There were times, I could say, later in the career, that I wished that my voice would be deeper for materials that I might've wanted to select to do. But that's the style of my voice. There's nothing I can do about the height of my voice. And so I learned to deal with it.

Jimmy Scott

If you're singing, you're telling a story. So to tell it and tell it right, that's it.

Jimmy Scott

I project stronger. If you notice the old records - they're much lighter - vocally much lighter in sound than the records that I'm doing today.

Jimmy Scott

I've learned that music is such a healer.

Jimmy Scott

As long as I could sing my songs, I wasn't as angry about what had happened, about being shoved back for this or shoved back for the other.

Jimmy Scott

I'm a singer, and I never lost sight of that.

Jimmy Scott

There's times, in certain songs, that I might be in my own world, and who cares about who's out there, you know? You have a job to do, so you do that job of singing that song or telling that story because that's what you're doing.

Jimmy Scott

When the gig ain't there, you still got to pay the rent. I learned that a long time ago.

Jimmy Scott