Quotes About Music

Everyone in the group sang when I joined them. That was one of the problems with L.T.D.: there was no focal point. It took until 1976, or about six or seven years, before I was put into the spotlight as a vocalist. That's when I recorded 'Love Ballad,' and it became a hit for the group.

With 'A Million Miles,' I still was proving myself as a writer and as a vocalist. It gave me the platform to tour again.

I want to grow as a vocalist, and I want to really kill every single show and just become better.

I used to sing at funeral homes for families that didn't have a vocalist. I didn't get paid. I needed to sing.

During college, I didn't really have an interest in what I was studying. It was during college that I first stumbled into forming an underground band where I was the lead vocalist. I had always had an ear for music, but nothing more than that. And that good ear of mine led me to learn and play a lot of instruments while in college.

Often, when I work with a vocalist, I like to focus on the melodies first.

I make records from top to bottom. Bring the best out of the vocalist. I deal with live instrumentation on all our records.

I don't have any godfather, I had to continuously prove myself as a vocalist to survive in the music scene.

I've always had a soft spot for Phil Collins. He's a great vocalist.

The composers know what they want from you. So as a vocalist you have got to trust them and surrender yourself to their vision.

'Somebody That I Used to Know,' like a lot of the record, was a bit of a struggle to finish. It was written fairly quickly - I wrote it in November 2010 - but it took six months to find Kimbra and really realize she was the right vocalist to make the female part come to life. There were constant hurdles.

One of my first favorite records was the debut Garbage album, which I heard when I was very young. Shirley Manson is a great female vocalist and performer and I admire her for that.

I like to sing because my mother was a singer. She sang to me all the time, so I learned to love singing. I did have a career as little 10-year-old George Benson. I made my first record as a vocalist, but I've been playing guitar since I was 9.

When you think of rock and roll and metal, a lot of it is based around the riff. If you can sing over the riff and what the arrangements are going to be like, you have to leave space for what most people consider one of the most key essential parts, which is the vocalist.

I never called myself a jazz singer. I just call myself a vocalist because I love to sing all kinds of things.

Just because the gender of the vocalist is the same, that doesn't actually tell you anything about the sound of the band.

I don't want to be New Vocalist of the Year; that's not a goal of mine. If those things come along, that would be awesome, but that's not something I strive for.

The only thing I could do was play music, because I'd studied classical guitar, trumpet and piano at the American School in Alexandria. So I started out with two other boys in little clubs in Athens. I became a singer by default when our lead vocalist was late one night. Someone had to sing.

My mother was into church so she listens to gospel music. I like the way gospel is composed... the great vocalist chord and the way they make you feel.

My mother is an amazing vocalist and a lot of my grounding in music has come from her. She was a student of Lakshmi Shankar, my father's sister- in- law.

I write the vocals last, because I wanted to invent the music first and push the music to the level that I had to compete against it.

I strongly believe that Professor Longhair playing just instrumentals would be just as effective as stylized vocals; that's how much I believe in his music.

Elvis inspired my sideburns, but Little Richard inspired me for vocals.

My whole goal in this industry nowadays is to keep doing the underground stuff, but to be able to add vocals that are sexy and underground.