Lizz Wright
I'd listen to the radio, especially when my parents were out on house calls to pray for people - you know, shut-ins. Sometimes, if we were incredibly sneaky, we could do it at night when everyone was asleep.
I really just want an audience that is willing to let me live my life and share with them what I get out of my life.
There's a lot of pressure that comes from the mainstream stuff, and already people who have been saying - people who don't know any better - have been saying things to me like, 'You should really think about neosoul. You'd definitely be more successful in that.' But that's not my expression.
I'm kind of a subtle person.
Where I come from, music is not a business. Sharing music is a business, but music is not a business. It comes from the people and belongs to the people.
Singing in church is a very different approach to music. It's very much about transcending the idea of self. It's about finding something greater that connects all of us. Gospel music is about tapping into that.
So many great singers we know have come from the church.
I know how to make myself comfortable.
I didn't wait around for my parents' opinion about my venture out into contemporary music.
It's very hard for me to place myself alongside another artist. Everyone has something unique to express.
For me, I just want to sing about life. And since I come from a spiritual background, I turned to jazz, because I feel it's still sacred, like gospel. It's serious music, but it allows room to sing about so much other stuff as well.
I don't think words always lead to meaning, but the things you can create with them are still pretty amazing. I've been really into Joni Mitchell, for example, but I've also been into some studio stuff, like Bjork.
'Salt' is like this snapshot in midair, an action shot. It's about my relationship with the church, the classical and choral music that I dealt with in school, and my new introduction to jazz. It's very hard for me to listen to from beginning to end, because I hear how lost I was.
At 16, I was going to church and playing music for church, and Dad would only pay for piano lessons so I could play at church.
I'm in love with the way that Ella Fitzgerald delivered a lyric. She would deliver a lyric with the kind of clarity that would make you wonder why it was written, and make you think about the writer. I think every writer hopes an Ella of any genre or anytime gets a hold of their work and works the song like that.
What I learned about singing in the church has gone into what I do now.
I always want to do good work and enjoy doing it.
What I like is not a particular genre, it's storytelling. There's a lot of great storytelling in jazz, and in folk and in country music.Collection: Country
I've followed my voice rather than forcing it to emerge.Collection: Voice
If I can make something real and it's appreciated and accessible to other people, I'm happy.Collection: Real
Finally I started really opening up as a songwriter and an interpreter and taking songs from all kind of genres and stripping them down to just lyrics and the story inside the lyrics, and trying to make them really mine.Collection: Song
People are a lot more open than even they think they are. And I feel like I carry a heavy story about where I come from and those roots, but also what I like as a thinker.Collection: Thinking
I just want something that is real and that moves people. And just want to make something real.Collection: Real
Just because I'm a recording artist doesn't mean I'm not an artist. Because I had to grow.Collection: Mean
I'm not angry. I can't sing that loud for that long anyway, I'll start coughing - I don't have the instrument for it. I don't feel that emotional. I'm at peace.Collection: Emotional