Melissa Manchester Quotes

I never thought of myself as being the singer that wanted to create an identity and then stick to that.

I don't think I'm a country artist, really. I'm a country person, but I don't think I'm necessarily a country singer or musician.

Some people think I'm a rock 'n' roll musician and some think I'm a jazz musician but, for me, there is no difference.

Just figure out what you think jazz is, and then if it fits into that category, it's jazz, and if it doesn't, it isn't. It's no big deal.

I'm a pop princess at heart. Pop is about distilling what you want to say and making it easy. And the way I write isn't about making things easy. It's a weird juxtaposition.

From the beginning, I've always had a knack for catchy melodies. But I went through a period when I was trying to be rock n' roll and have a rock n' roll attitude. I was fighting my nature by trying to play really hard and sing really hard. But at a certain point, I realized that I loved syrupy pop music with tons of harmony.

I didn't want to be one of the Beach Boys or one of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band. I mean, we appreciated that music. But I didn't want to grow a beard to look like Roy Wood just because I liked him.

I think Sia is a pretty good reference for me because her way of 'singing and the way she composes the melodies and writes the lyrics is very similar to what I've always done.

I wouldn't categorize myself as R&B or hip-hop. I don't really know how to categorize myself. I'm still working out where I fit with that stuff. I kind of think of myself as pop.

Country is and always will be my heart, but I don't have a problem with it spilling over into pop if it wants to.

I'm always gonna have the darker edgy music; it is always in my pocket because it comes so naturally to me.

Aaron Copland was a man that had a very specific point of view about what music should be which was that, he felt that new music should have the composer should show a personality in his music.

My voice and the styles and genres I sing all express my appreciation for what I hear.

The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.

I try to steal something from the great singers. Of course, I don't want to imitate their sound, but I try to do a sort of compromise.

Yeah, I've always considered myself a musical person.

I was never much of a singer. I was terrible. It's embarrassing: I was trying to sound like everybody else. I went through a big Cure phase, so I was trying to do that kind of dramatic voice.

I wanted to give people a taste of my own music through the sound and style of my covers.

I was singing doo-wop on the corner under the streetlight with four other guys when it wasn't called doo-wop. We just got together and sang, so that music is inside of me. It's a lot of stuff that has been rolling around in here and becoming this compost and has made me who I am as a singer.

If Mozart were around now he would write a killer rock song.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

If twang isn't what I do, I don't know what is.

Really the only thing holding a lot of records together is the personality of the singer, and the will to write all of these different things.

No matter what I do, my songs come out in a certain style, and if that sounds like Dead Kennedys, then there's probably a reason for it. Don't forget, I wrote most of those songs, music and lyrics.

I feel like I'm a rock artist. I don't feel like I'm a pop artist. And I'm alt rock. I'm indie rock. I'm punk rock. Because it comes from the pots and pans. It's a lot of me, but I've got multiple personalities.