Lesley Garrett Quotes

Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me.

It takes a long time to get to be a diva. I mean, you gotta work at it.

No live performance can ever be perfect, and that's what keeps you on your toes - it pushes you to practice harder, show up for that 8 A.M. ballet class, and walk through the stage door every night just to have the chance to do it all again.

I just wanted to perform all day, every day.

I don't do much relaxing. When I'm not giving a recital I practise.

Whether you're on TV or on the stage, you have to work hard to stay fresh, real, and full of energy. You can't settle back. You always have to stay on your toes.

I wouldn't say that I was a born performer, because I work very hard at it.

Everybody out there watches the show and has expectations of wanting to be an 'Idol', but we're going to teach them how much hard work goes into it.

I've never really been a confident person, except from a musical standpoint. I had to push myself early on, but it got easier with each gig.

Performance-wise, you really need to be down in the trenches; you need to do the hard work, for a lot of reasons: To build yourself as a performer, to get a sense of the audience, to work hard and to wonder, 'Do I really want to do this?'

I'm very serious about what I do. I practice every day for three hours. I work on my scales; I work on my tone. But otherwise, I like to have fun.

You don't really know a song until you play it live.

You can be born with the talent to be an opera star, but you've got to work and practice it.

I think I've become a much better singer and a much better player. Years and years of playing a couple of hours every day will do that.

You won't see me at a microphone singing and tapping my foot. I spend a lot of money on sets, costumes and sound. I believe people deserve a show. I'm a singer, musician, dancer. I work hard, and I'm soaking wet when I come off.

I don't feel like singing should be taken lightly. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it's coming along.

The level of sacrifice in the world of dancing is incredibly intense, that work ethic if nothing else - get up, go to class, rehearsal, performance, get up, go to class - that's your life, and it's like that for a finite time, usually.

It's a constant challenge to get your arrangement and musical expression across to a new audience, especially when you're playing live every night like we are.

There's a lot of maintenance that goes into being a professional singer.

Classical music requires an immense amount of concentration, and I don't know if I would've been that committed to that particular life.

Even if you see a great performance, it's not always great getting there. There are injuries... Intrinsically or unconsciously, people understand that - people see those performances, and they know there are stories behind that.

I have to be composed; I have to be poised. I have to remember what my first piano teacher told me: 'You do not touch that piano until you are ready and until they are ready to listen to you.

We performers sacrifice so much for your entertainment.

I feel like a lot of pop singers hurt themselves if they don't have the proper training.

I had to learn very quickly how to perform, how to act, how to look, to always say what I wanted to say in my songs.