Norah Jones Quotes

I never used to speak to the audience at all. I never really knew what to say onstage.

The first time I sang in front of an audience, I was about 14 - it was at my guitar school's showcase, and there were about 30 people there. I was so nervous, but I did it.

I'm really at ease in being me and going all around the world playing music. But I do get a lift once we start. I'm humming stuff in the dressing room and smiling, looking at myself and making sure I don't have nose hair! But once I get really close to the stage, and the guys are doing the intro thing, I do get a pick-me-up.

It took me a long time to be alright with smiling onstage.

I don't feel nervous or fearful when I'm on stage.

Sometimes, the most daunting thing about performing is making eye contact with your audience, so just look above them and at the corners of the room. Soon, you'll totally forget they're there.

I can sing in front of people. I can go on a TV show, live, and not feel like I'm going to throw up.

There's some anxiety the 30 minutes before the show starts. But once you step on stage and face the people, everything goes away, and you have fun and enjoy the audience.

In high school, I was too shy to perform. It's one thing to get laughs from your family, to be funny at parties and in class. It's another thing to get up on the stage.

Getting up in front of an audience is my biggest motivation.

My dad was listening to me noodle around on the guitar in the house and sing, and he was like, 'Man, you're funny, and you sound good when you do that. You should do that at a bar.' I had stage fright, so I was like, 'No, Dad. Leave me alone.'

I don't feel like I'm the type of performer who's going to knock your socks off. I'm trying to get over my nerves.

I used to hate touring, I used to absolutely hate it! I think one of the reasons why was because in between songs I found it difficult to talk to the audience, and now I don't care, I say what I want!

I'd love to give my music to someone who really likes to wow the crowd. I feel like half the time I just want to hide in the dressing room!

It feels like the more I'm out there in the public eye, the more criticism I get. You need to have confidence - that's what it takes to walk out there and sing a song in front of a huge group of people.

Going out on a stage publicly and not knowing how people are going to react to you - once I experienced that, it made me feel much more comfortable about going into a scene.

In a strange way, I'm way more comfortable onstage than anywhere else.

And when I perform on my own tour, I have to talk myself into going out on that stage every single night.

I loathe the idea of going onstage in a T-shirt and jeans.

I don't think that just because you go on stage you are an exhibitionist.

People think I look odd onstage. But the way I deal with being incredibly nervous is by concentrating really hard.

I love playing in front of people. I feel powerful, 'cause I don't have to really say anything - I'm just singing.

I like getting up in front of an audience. It's fun when you go to a baseball game and the crowd is cheering you. I can't deny it. And it's very funny, too. Sometimes you're shy; you go somewhere and everyone's looking at you, so you feel a little self-conscious.

I conquered my stage fright a long time ago. In my line of work, it's kind of a pre-requisite that you not feel bad about looking stupid in front of a lot of people.

Onstage I have a natural chutzpa that audiences like. I'm out there.