Sampha Quotes

I've never had a very quiet voice. I tried in choir to make it smaller, and it just didn't work out. And I listened to a lot of soul music when I was growing up on my own accord. But I was mostly into Mama Cass and Gladys Knight, and they all had big voices too; just different than mine.

I use my voice as an instrument.

My vocal style I haven't tried to copy from anyone. It just developed until it became the girlish whine it is today.

I listened to Billie Holiday a lot in order to learn to sing. She remains one of the extraordinary jazz singers. But my intent is to become my own voice, to be able to interpret these songs in my own way.

Voice is my instrument.

My singing voice is very specific to me. That's my natural voice when I sing.

I'm drawn to singers who have something different to say vocally, and Adele would be in there.

I have never followed anyone's style of singing.

Singing your own songs is all about individual expression.

People often ask me how I developed my vocal sound, and the answer usually disappoints them: 'It's just the way I sound when I sing.'

I have sung, but I haven't sung in any way that I would ever call myself 'a singer.'

The main thing in making your own music is that it's an expression of someone's personality and being. That's what people want to hear, and you can't really teach that - that's just something that comes out. Teaching just hones that.

I don't ever sing classically when I am singing a contemporary score - I kind of try to fit in whatever needs to happen.

My voice isn't an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.

I'm not a pop singer; I'm not a jazz singer. And I know I sing like not a whole lot of people do; I also know that a lot of other people act like I do. And better than I do. But what informs the singing is the acting. They're not separate from each other.

When I sing a song, I want someone to recognize 'Now that's Dianne singing that song.'

I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me.

When I sing, it's different from when I speak in a very interesting way. I think that, when you're singing, a message is carried in a different way. I don't know if that emotion needs a melody.

I feel like the falsetto is my niche and my sound and something different.

Singing is near miraculous because it is the mastering of what is otherwise a pure instrument of egotism: the human voice.

If I was singing like somebody else, then it was almost like I was expressing myself like somebody else. So it was always a very original thing for me. It's my voice, it's my diary, it's the way I connect with people.

My main objective was finding my individuality as a vocalist.

My own singing voice is not very good and I don't think that anybody really sings in their own voice.

People used to say nobody can sing my songs but me - they're too personal.

I do think it's probably true to a certain extent that you tend to sing music that fits your voice. If you're Lou Reed, you're unlikely to become a country singer.