Alicia Keys Quotes

'The Voice' gave me a chance to show people the side of me that is an artist. People didn't know what that would look like or sound like. It allowed people to see that potential.

I'm very proud of my records, but my most natural creative tendencies have been in live performing. There's a beautiful element to recording and making records, but I've always felt a little shy with it.

You learn fast from others how to be an entertainer as well as a musician; you don't necessarily have to get out there and just play - you can be an entertainer, too.

What is a good performance? It lies in the hands and head of a performer... the shortest way between two people is not a straight line.

I've worked with lots of musicians - like Tina Turner - and I love when they go in front of the fitting mirror and do their thing, pose, dance. I love that moment!

It's always performing for me. I write and I record so I can perform. It all ties to that. I've done it since I was a little kid. That's my absolute rush, is playing for different people every night, bringing something else to the table they've never seen.

Ever since I was a little kid, whenever my parents would have company over, I would put on shows, whether they would be magic shows, singing shows, dancing shows, little skits.

If one plays good music, people don't listen and if one plays bad music people don't talk.

Anything back in New Orleans is definitely nostalgic. I really played my first shows of my life and learned to perform here. I learned how to work a stage and how to connect with a crowd. It all started here.

Most of the people I hang out with who sing love it, and they just want to do it until they die. I still look forward to the performances. And believe it or not, they're all kind of different. Even though you sing the same songs, and maybe you go to the same venues, it just feels completely different every time you go on stage.

I can't understand artists that don't want to perform and, like, get on stage and do their songs for all their fans every night.

I remember looking out into the sea of phone lights as Chris Martin belted 'Yellow' on the piano and deciding that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

My sister, myself, and my cousins would put on shows for our parents and charge them to come and watch, apparently. That's what I'm told. My parents said I knew how to milk it.

If you can't stop singing as you walk through the halls of your house, or you love performing in your local talent show, YouTube is such a good platform to share that side of you. It's a place for people who have passions, and the audience is people who appreciate those passions.

I always wanted my work to speak for itself but I realized you have to show people a little bit of yourself and interact with them, especially before your film releases.

I want to show people that I'm not just that guy who can get out there and scream 'Hooligan's Holiday' and 'Smoke The Sky.'

I've got a bad rap for not being more charismatic between songs.

I think that it's crucial. I think that playing live, if you want to be an artist - that's what artists do.

I really loved being able to perform my songs and sing them myself.

When you're playing music and you're starting to expose yourself for the first time, there's nothing more powerful than being listened to and being actually heard.

I started performing in college, but I wasn't writing a lot.

We spent night after night out there learning the art of entertaining a crowd.

If I can still sing and still perform to my satisfaction, I don't mind touring.

I have had people telling me that they liked my screen presence and my voice, so I guess that's my strength.

I regard myself as an entertainer much more than an artist.