Beth Ditto Quotes

I would say my greatest musical influences have been Ella Fitzgerald and Mary J. Blige.

When I hear someone, instantaneously, I'm like, 'Who's singing?' You're giving people so much of yourself, and my voice is the most natural, distinctive tool I have. It's up to me to express myself on a wider scale than just writing vocal melodies and lyrics.

I've never been into the typical R&B voice, with runs and bluesy sounding words. That doesn't suit me.

I do better singing female songs because my voice is so high-pitched.

I think I've learned a lot on the vocal side of things.

Boy George always told me to stop noodling; he wanted me to belt like Ethel Merman.

My own singing voice is not very good and I don't think that anybody really sings in their own voice.

People often ask me how I developed my vocal sound, and the answer usually disappoints them: 'It's just the way I sound when I sing.'

You have to get to know your voice and its strengths and play on those. It took me quite a long time.

When I sing full-on I use my whole body. I open my throat and let it fly out.

I love hard singing.

I listened to Billie Holiday a lot in order to learn to sing. She remains one of the extraordinary jazz singers. But my intent is to become my own voice, to be able to interpret these songs in my own way.

With classical singing you have to put out so much air - you project, you emit force.

As much as I appreciate people putting me in the category of these very acrobatic belters, I feel like my strength is my... interpretation and my truthfulness with songs, and I don't want young people to think it's all about the high notes that they have to hit.

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.

I wanted to emulate Bob Flanagan, the high voice in the 'Four Freshmen.' I wanted to sing high like he did.

For singers, our singing voice is our natural voice, not the speaking.

I love singing with my mouth open. And I'm actually able to sing even better that way.

When I was 15 or so, I made a conscious decision to try and sing with a big voice. Everybody I listened to had these big voices, and I wanted to try it. The blessing is that I could.

The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound.

I still struggle with my low notes. It's just always been something for me: I'm not a low singer. I have a really high voice.

I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me.

I'm a piano player. I never thought of myself as a singer, at all. I was always trying to sound like somebody else. I don't like my own voice, I like Ray Charles, Robert Plant, I like Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, people that have an edge in their voice.

I do think it's probably true to a certain extent that you tend to sing music that fits your voice. If you're Lou Reed, you're unlikely to become a country singer.

I am not a natural singer, but I can sing, and probably the way I sing is more imitative than from myself, which is why I am never going to be an amazing recording artist.