Javed Ali Quotes

I don't ever sing classically when I am singing a contemporary score - I kind of try to fit in whatever needs to happen.

I'm a lyric soprano. I can try to step outside that and do different kind of singing, but it's not something I can sustain over the long haul, and what is good for your voice is good for your career.

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.

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

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!

I've always felt myself as being a serious singer.

As for my voice, it cannot be categorised - and I like it that way, because I sing things that would be considered in the dramatic, mezzo or spinto range.

Everyone thinks I'm singing falsetto, but that's my normal singing voice.

When I first started singing, I didn't know which direction to take - I sang rock & roll and all kinds of things.

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

I'm under no illusion. There are lots of male singers out there with raspy voices.

I've always had a close connection to both rock and classical music.

There's only so much you can do with a male voice in dance music.

To sing along with Stevie Wonder, you had to make your voice do things it was not accustomed to doing.

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

Times were changing. Clothes were changing. Morals were changing. We went from romantic loves songs like I used to do to rock 'n roll. Now that has changed to rap. So, there's always a new generation with new music.

I can sing, but I never considered myself a powerhouse vocalist but more of a rock-pop singer.

For singers, I believe we can sing in a lot of keys. I know I have this big range, but the point is to find a key that emotionally connects people.

It is jazz music that called me to be a musician and I have always sang the songs that moved me the most. Singers, like Frank Sinatra and myself, we interpret the songs that we like. Not unlike a Shakespearean actor that goes back to the greatest words ever written, we go back to the greatest songs.

Music is music; you don't have to put a label on it.

Because everything about the voice interests me, I felt it would be fascinating to learn a completely different style of singing.

With The Fugees initially, and even with 'Miseducation', it was very hip-hop - always a singing over beats. I don't think people have really heard me sing out. So if I do record again, perhaps it will have an expanded context. Where people can hear a bit more.

When I was younger I didn't really know what genre of music I'd want to do because I'd always done so many different types, so many impressions.

If you've got a good vibrato, you can get away with a lot.