Quotes About Artists

I always wanted the flowiness that hip-hop artists had. I always admired how they rapped so fast, but I never wanted to rap; I wanted to sing the rap.

I learned to sing from my mum and dad's record collection.

I am huge fan of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hassan. Listening to these people inspired me to become a singer.

I didn't have to be a pop singer with a certain look. When I started, there was really a revolution in natural artists with blues and folk artists crossing over; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to get started.

Even when I was coming up in the singer-songwriter ranks during the early '70s, I thought that people who were stylists and stuff shoulda still been up on the pedestal. I mean, it's fine to recognize people who write songs, but it kinda got out of hand, you know?

The models for me were more the folk-rock singers of the '60s and '70s.

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 was lucky enough to first meet Elvis at his house in Bel Air and he used to invite different artists, singers and musicians, to come and jam with him at his house.

I have written for, very fortunately, some great singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley.

I have always looked up to Adele and Christina Aguilera as singers ever since I was very young, and now my favorite male singer is Hozier.

I say nice things about Mariah all the time. I tell Mariah all the time how much of a fan I am of her. She's one of my favorite artists of all time... She's shaped a generation of singers.

I think I'm inspired mostly by other artists that aren't actors, like writers or singers or artists, for being so brave.

I like R&B. I listen to music, not singers.

There have always been female artists and singers putting bands together all the time. But we were not always getting credit for that because we didn't know any better.

My favourite singers are people like R. Kelly and people like that.

I have always loved soul singers.

I love female musicians, female singers.

I grew up singing Ray Charles and Jimmy Reed.

For me, I'm more a fan of the songs than of the artists because often, it's not worth getting the whole album. There's usually a few singles and the rest of it is politics or something.

How many songs in your life were your favorite songs but never were singles on albums?

The industry has changed in that it is far more disposable than it used to be. When Boyzone came out, we were given a shot and the patience to record our singles and albums. Nowadays, the thought is if it is not working, then the artist will be dropped. The record companies will bail on the artists, and I find that sad.

When your hair is rising, that's when you know it's a good song - that's happened to me with some artists and some songs, John Lennon songs or when Nina Simone sings. It's great to make those moments yourself.

My sister's a musician. Everyone else in our family, it's either academics or artists of one kind or another. And those are the people that I think I like to hang out with, too. I think, you know, they're always interesting; they lead interesting lives, and I think they're important for everyone to read about because everyone is an artist in a way.

My sisters were going out with artists and poets, and eventually it was the creative world which attracted me.