Melody Gardot
I'm generally not a materialistic person, but I definitely have more shoes than I need.
I made it my mission to get to a point where I could wear shoes which were not orthopaedic. Life is too short not to look fabulous.
Honesty, irony and small children make me laugh.
I'm someone who believes that hearts don't beat voluntarily, they need a reason. If you lack self love or love for others you die.
I'm on the road for up to 11 months a year so have this wardrobe on wheels for my clothes. It's like a magic box, where I keep everything from lint rollers to a sewing kit in.
I describe my style as 'woo woo chichi' - a little bit bohemian and a lot of chic.
I have a bunch of riding crops and manage to go riding about twice a year.
I didn't choose jazz; jazz chose me.
I've never aspired to make 'jazz music,' I simply aspired to make music that was in a word, self-soothing and relevant to the resonating sounds I was hearing somewhere tucked in the back of my mind.
In truth, inspiration comes from anyone who creates music with great soul and great essence.
I traveled for about a year and a half through the southern part of Europe, to Portugal, Spain, parts of Morocco, and then down to South America. I was interested in learning new instruments and languages and seeing how they all came together.
Before, I was living in Philadelphia and thinking and speaking of things I had experienced in one environment alone. After leaving, I started to feel like I didn't have one home, but that my home was all around the world in these different kinds of music I had discovered.
If you listen - and I don't, usually - to my first two records, I sound like a baby surrounded by a beautiful orchestra. I sound so tiny and small.
I'm passionate about my eco jewellery made by friends in Brazil and other sentimental items that I mix with beautifully designed pieces.
I mostly wear black with occasional contrast and splashes of colour. I love my curves but I like fitted rather than tight clothes.
I rarely shop in the high street, I'm too busy travelling, but if I have to grab something quickly, it would be Zara.
Alber Elbaz really understands the female body and his designs are so flattering to the female form.
I was bedridden for a long time.
I had to learn how to walk three times: every time I learned, I learned wrong.
I had pelvic fractures at the front and the back, right at the base of my pelvis, so all the pressure would go on those fractures when I sat down.
It's just incredible to be working alongside with the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, sharing the story of his life.
The moment I got to France, I fell in love with it.
Writing is something I take very seriously.
I'll write whenever I can and I'll use whatever instrument is around.
Sometimes I'll try something on piano and move to guitar, but usually that comes after scratching down some ideas for lyrics.
Writing is private and personal but after I have the idea and I have some of it in place I'll share it with the band to work on their parts. That's where the communication comes into music, the sharing process.
Jazz is a sideways glance at music. It's like being an architect, knowing the basis of design but understanding that the facade can be whatever you dream.
I'm a free person. I don't want to be tied down.
It's so boring to stand up and sing ballads all night.
One of the problems of people who live with pain is that they spend the whole day thinking about it, and it's exasperating. But even when I am having a bad moment and I can't get myself together, I get on stage and for an hour or two the pain becomes super-small.
My songs are based on life.
You know, I think good writers write about what they know.
In school I had piano lessons as a child for about two years.
I only made that first EP because I needed to remember what I'd done. And recording and listening back to the music was a tool to help me do that.
I met some wonderful people, who introduced me to some other musicians... I then made a little record called 'Worrisome Heart.' It was a very interesting record because it was just, simple.
My One and Only Thrill' was completed because I had a band and we were touring.
I didn't like the hustle and bustle of some metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Music is a fundamental part of our civilization, so when it goes to sub zero, we have two choices, right? We do nothing, cos we're stuck on the idea that it needs to be the same way its always been. Or we let go of some of the idealism and say 'let's do what we can with what we have.'
I remember first standing up to hold a guitar on stage being an accomplishment.
I've got so much to be grateful for.
I can never express my gratitude enough to the doctor who told me that I needed to turn to music.
When I auditioned for a choir at school I didn't get in.
I love how my life is turning out.
I was riding my bicycle and I was hit by a Jeep. And the damage that was done to my body was gradually diagnosed, instead of immediately, so the recovery process for me was probably unnecessarily long: It took nearly two years for me to say that I could successfully walk.
Oh God I had so many wigs!
Not doing music period is the death of a musician.
Do a Christmas record!' NO! Call Michael Buble! I'm not saying there's something wrong with that. But that's not me.
My history helps other people in terms of treatment and lessons in recovery. It affects my daily routine, as my body is not the same as someone who has not had that kind of a situation, but only adds to the joy once the challenge of overcoming physical pain is met.
I live out of my suitcases. It makes for the best aperitif in terms of spice of life.