Lizz Wright Quotes

When I hear a singer, I want them to be passionate and intense, and soul singers like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett always seemed to do exactly that.

My musical education was grounded in blues and Chicago blues - John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding.

I've always loved soul, R&B, doo-wop and blues, and I've wanted to make a record like that for years.

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.

Macon has such a rich musical history - and the state of Georgia, as well.

I discovered the same thing Gram Parsons did, that soul music and country music are practically identical. Based off of the same chord structures, and the songs are of heartache and loss. The main connection is they both came up in church.

I want to reach back to when R&B meant something, to when it made impressions on people.

I'm an old spirit, and my voice tends to be kind of heavy and loud. I've been referenced as 'a young Aretha.'

When I was growing up, my dad would always be playing Motown around the house. He loved Stevie Wonder and the Supremes and got me into Dionne Warwick. It was the best music I'd ever heard. It was just that extremely deep, human, thought-out stream of ideas. You can always hear something new when you listen to that music.

I think of people like Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes. They all came out of the South, and they followed a certain tradition and energy. That's no knock to groups like The Temptations or The Supremes, not at all, but they were way more polished in how they did things.

I want to do a darker, pop soul kind of feel.

I think blues music is music of the soul. Of course, there are other forms. You could call some classical music blues music in that way.

I love soul music, that's my real love in life and in whatever shape or form it is.

Kelly Clarkson definitely reminds me of Motown. She's pop, but she's also very, very soulful.

When I was 14, I heard Otis Redding in a club local to me, and I was blown away. It leaped out at me and went straight to my heart. I set my sights on singing like that.

Blues is such a dynamic and ever-changing system of music.

Even though I was a rock 'n' roll fan, hearing the raw blues was like listening to music on a much deeper kind of level.

The one thing I loved about blues and soul was the way they taught the world how to express such deep feelings.

Soul and blues were a definite influence on me. It was raw and naked emotion which you didn't get much where I come from.

Doo-wop was full of blues for me.

I love early blues like Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. I listened to the way these people sang, and it was just beautiful - straight from the soul. That, for me, was an inspiration.

My dad was a club musician. He was always playing guitar and playing loads of soul records and '60s rock n' roll. Whenever he used to cook, he used to play Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, The Kinks, and the Spencer Davis Group - a lot of really earthy things.

I did a project called 'Sing The Truth,' which was a lot of fun. It started out being a celebration of the music of Nina Simone, and it was me and Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo.

The blues is played everywhere. There's no place I've been where they don't have blues or aren't interested in blues.

I love soul music.