Willie Nelson Quotes

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 was 4 years old when I sang in public for the very first time.

The first time I sang in church, when I was ten, the applause was so overwhelming that I started to weep. My mum had to rescue me from the stage.

I got on stage for the first time when I was seven. From seven until I was about nine it was probably more to do with just being on stage and having the attention.

The first time I performed musically, I threw up.

In 2004, I went onstage for the first time. They put a mike in my hand and pushed me out the door into the crowd. I did the three songs I had recorded and got out. It was the worst day of my life.

The first time I got up in front of an audience was terror, abject terror, which continued for another four or five years. There still is, a little bit.

I still remember the first gig where I got people going, it was Rascals in New Jersey, and the place was packed. I was scared. People were expecting me to be funny. I gotta be honest, every time I walk into a club, it's that same fear.

The most scared I'd ever been was the first time I sang at a rugby match, Australia versus New Zealand, in front of one hundred thousand people. I had a panic attack the night before because people have been booed off and never worked again... just singing one song, the national anthem.

I remember the first time I walked on that stage. Maxine and I were just a duet at the time, and we walked on that stage and did 'Looking Back to See.' Ernest Tubb introduced us at the time. I remember my knees were shaking.

I performed in public for the first time at three years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was on a big stage. There were probably three or four hundred people in the audience. We were doing this dance, this Kermit the Frog routine, all of us in our little green leotards.

Very few people know what it's like being onstage looking out at a sea of bodies.

The first time I performed on stage, that was almost the first concert I went to, so that was pretty interesting and a bit weird at the same time.

I remember going on stage for the very first time as a solo act, I was probably, like, nine or 10 years old. And being backstage, I started having anxiety... I was literally getting sick.

My first-night jitters are so bad, I can't even hold a tea cup, but once I am over that, I get really into it.

I get nervous every time, for every single performance, before getting up on that stage.

The first night you walk down to a comedy club, at least for me, I had my voice, and then I went on stage and I lost it.

In general, I'm pretty shy and nervous about a lot of things. For me to get on stage for the first time took so many times at an open mic before I finally got on stage and did it.

I was always an exhibitionist. I liked it when everyone laughed. But I didn't do plays in high school. I was too nervous.

Every time I went on stage I was so terrified I almost threw up.

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.

The first time I went out under the spotlight, I was proper freaked out.

Once I get out onstage, it's the same sort of basic production that it is anywhere else. But I might be a little bit aware that there might be people I know out there, who wondered where I was.

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

When you get onstage, you can see everyone in the audience's face, down to the detail. You can see who may or may not be yawning.