Jessye Norman Quotes

I always believed a singer should be able to sing any kind of song. If I wanted to sing a Cole Porter song, I should be able to do that. Or 'Sherry,' I should be able to do that. Or a Dylan song.

The Latin musical tradition is very rich and gives the singer a lot of freedom to explore a range of.

I know that composers know my voice type and what songs will suit me. I have been able to mould my voice according to the nature of the song given to me, be it rock, pop or jazz.

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

I enjoy all aspects of singing and I'm luckily given the choice to be part of different styles of music.

I am comfortable with anything I sing: jazz, gospel, classical. It doesn't matter. I can do it all.

I can't sing anything other than country!

A lot of people who have been perceiving my music have been trying to formulate a genre for it, and I think it's just a natural thing; it doesn't need to be categorized. It doesn't need to be sectioned, if you will.

I'm not really a country singer, although I did make a couple albums and love its simple, straight-from-the-heart approach, but I have always sung a lot of jazz, show tunes, pop tunes, gospel and blues.

Why would you want to dictate somebody else's taste or happiness? Music is supposed to be joyful and move people, and however that gets accomplished for different people, it's all good.

My father has a great voice. My father used to sing... just sing.

I think the music defends myself. I don't think anyone should put a race on any genre. It's just a way of expressing yourself through instruments and sounds, right? People can just listen to the music.

Some people are really surprised that I can sing different ways.

I'm aware of the subgenres and why they exist. But I don't feel like I have to limit myself. I don't feel like I just have to play deep house, just play tribal house, just play progressive house. I wouldn't feel right if I had to limit myself.

It's not really difficult to go from one voice into the next. It's like asking you to sing a line of Happy Birthday and then Goodnight Irene - assuming you know the words to both those songs

I can listen to all different sorts of music. I don't really care about The Next Big Thing.

My voice adapts itself to the music. I can do a lot more than you hear in Portishead.

I don't have a rock voice. I have to force it. I am like an opera singer.

The one radio voice that I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words.

I had a hole in my voice. It's an area in the voice where it's air. It's just - there's no - it's just very airy. And my classical teachers were just so frustrated with me because I would have these deep, low notes that were really strong, and the higher register was strong, but right in that middle area, it was really hard. It was like a passage. And many singers go through this and work it out. But I realized in jazz, I could just take advantage of that and take advantage of having a voice that was very different in different areas.

Different genres allow me to not feel so hemmed in by my own voice, tics, style.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music...

I think the people are just looking for freedom in music...There's a lot of she-bop she-bop going on out there. Maybe they're tired of that same old thing.

I think I prefer singing in falsetto. I like the way it sounds. It doesn't sound like my natural voice. It sounds like a character.

You don't have to be doing vocal acrobatics or singing all over the scale to have soul.