Joe Cocker Quotes

If someone tied me down and made me answer the question, singer, actress, clothing designer, I most likely - it could change on any given day, but mostly likely I would lean towards singing. It's where I feel most like myself - on stage singing.

People ask me if I ever get sick of playing 'Daydream Believer' or whatever. But I don't look at it that way. Do they ask if Tony Bennett is tired of 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco?'

I always use the Rolling Stones as the whipping boy for this, but they still play old songs as 90% of their set, and we would die if that were the case.

Obviously, the big hits like 'Shout,' 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World,' 'Head Over Heels,' we play live, so there's nothing new about them to me.

I had to sing 'Snowbird' a lot. But I never tired of it, ever.

I've always wanted to be in musicals, not just in film, but on stage. I think it's a wonderful medium.

For me, being onstage for an hour and a half, my confidence was really huge for me. Doing eight shows a week for a run, I was like: "I'm actually doing this." And now I feel more confident going into something.

Performing my show is something I constantly think about.

I wasn't a trained actor, I was trained in musical comedy theater, and when you do that, the audience is completely part of the thing. It's like Elizabethan theater. You play the scene, and then you turn - the audience is part of it.

My preference is live performance, because you get the feedback. There's an energy. It's live theater. That's why I think actors like that.

There's nothing better than going out there and performing and making that connection with audiences. Even after all this time I get the biggest buzz from that.

There's just something about getting up, putting it out there, and getting this exchange of energy. Whether your audience is a camera lens, or live theater, or whatever it is, just putting that out there and getting it back is just an honor.

There's a side to being in a band that some people embrace and some don't: the fact that you're performing and you care about how it comes across.

It's always been my dream to be on the stage with my band, singing my music. That's always been, and always will be.

I knew already when I was seven years old, that I wanted to be on stage and entertain people. I sell laughs. Here, you got one for free!

Onstage, of course, you have the luxury of rehearsal and discovery and time and comfort, which then turns into terror when you actually have to put it in front of people.

It was quite strange, because it's quite different from singing, although it's quite natural because you're used to performing or acting on stage.

I think I always enjoyed the energy of a crowd, of being onstage. It started when I was even younger doing public speaking at school and just kept going from there.

You know, you're doing the same show every day, and your inspiration, you have to look no further than the fact that you know people travel across the country to see you. In a lot of cases, this is that audience's only chance to see the thing, and so, that's what gets you up in the morning, and that's what gets you giving your best performance on stage, is the awareness that this audience is ready for it, and here to have an experience, and so in turn are you.

When you're onstage you have a certain faith that somebody's gonna yell somethin' back. Some nights it's louder than other nights and some nights they do, and on some songs they don't. But that's the idea. I think when you begin to expect a reaction from an audience, it's a mistake.

I love performing. I shall perform until the day I die.

I was touring a lot... I loved the touring because you could really feel the audience. You were much closer to everything.

I studied acting and there's certainly an element of performance. I think that the songs are in many ways written to be performed. I think about what it's going to be like to sing them on stage rather than what it's going to be like to have someone at home listening to them on a CD. I guess in that way there's a connection between my acting experience and the songwriting and the way the songs are written.

I found doing that kind of comedy without an audience is just... for me, it's almost impossible. You need the audience to do their half of the work.

I would love to work on Broadway, but I don't know that it would manifest itself in musical theater.... I have terrible stage fright that I'd have to get over.