Women Singers

"You do have to be fairly selfish when you have a gift. You cannot afford to let too many outside things get in the way."

"The opera world was shocked! But the image is very classical. It's taken from Botticelli's portrait of Venus, who's standing in a seashell with her hair covering her body. It's very sensual. It represents the vulnerable side of me. Although I'm not wearing any clothes, it comes across very well."

"Sometimes they're grey/green, sometimes they're grey, and some people think they are blue. So, I can't tell you!"

"When I sing, I close my eyes. If I see a feather, everything is fine. Without this image in my mind, the sound is not 'truthful' enough and I must begin again. I have to. I first had this feeling, this instinct with Phantom of the Opera and since then have always listened to it."

"It really is strange the way I work for success but when I get there cannot appreciate it. I enjoy the road to success and the struggle — even when it gets hard. But when I achieve my goal, I feel suddenly and totally stressed. Only in retrospect can I begin to enjoy the moment and admit just how great it was."

"In the past, I always used to be looking for answers. Today, I know there are only questions. So I just live."

"I'm a very talented person, I know that. I'm a very gifted person. I have a lot of imagination. I work hard. I feel I have the attributes within myself to have achieved what I have done. There has been no luck, no miracles. The only miracle has been this voice."

"(on her marriage to Andrew Lloyd Webber) It was such a creative time. Everything was happening very fast. He was writing, I was singing. He was inspired, and I was inspired. I didn't really have time to think about it. I didn't really have time to read things about it, either. I got a sense of things, which made me quite nervous at times. But, no, we were running all the time then, doing things. It was fun, but also a lot of pressure."

"We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield. We are strong, no one can tell us were wrong Searchin our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield."

"Don't count on me I engineer on every Move we make from here I'll take the lead You take the pain You see, I engineered This game."

"Just like the moon, I'll step aside, and let your sun shine while I follow behind..."

"Cuz I have so much love, for you, do with it what you will; and I have nothing more to prove, do with it what you will, say it again; say it again."

"I don't understand Ethel. I don't, I don't really. She's one of my very best friends, Just about the best, nearly. She's an awfully nice girl, Ethel is, Dainty and refined, I mean she'd never do or say Anything unkind. But get her inside a stadium And she seems to go out of her mind."

"If I should go before the rest of you, Break not a flower, nor inscribe a stone, Nor, when I’m gone, speak in a Sunday voice, But be the usual selves That I have known."

"Progress everywhere today does seem to come so very heavily disguised as chaos."

"They look quite promising in the shop, and not entirely without hope when I get them back into my wardrobe. But then, when I put them on they tend to deteriorate with a very strange rapidity and one feels sorry for them."

"Stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor, Doing the military two-step, as in the days of yore."

"George - don't do that."

"I was allowed to slave for them For ever and evermore. Oh, I was allowed to fetch and carry For my Three Brothers, Jim and Bob and Harry."

"Nobody is safe. Deviate by a hair's-breadth from normal behaviour in her presence and you become a specimen in her collection. She has the ear to record every nuance of vour talk and the tongue to reproduce it."

"Roman Viktyuk: Her destiny on Earth is to be the sun, the light. Her name in Ukrainian is Sonia, Solnyshko ["Sunny" in English]. That is how she is bringing throughout her whole life to people and throws handfuls of light, love and warmth into the concert halls... Sonechka, you know there was no way I would not appear on this stage since two nice parts of Western Ukraine are here. Sonia, Sonechko, there is no "our" or "your" sun, here is Light - Sonechka. Do keep on lighting, remain as tender, beautiful, talented, young as ever. You are unique, thank you Sonia. (Golden Grammy Awards Russia 2006, song "Do Not Love" [Russian: Не люби/Ne lubi)"

"Alla Pugacheva You have recently been at Rotaru's Anniversary. Is it possible that you will perform in the near future a song in duet with Sofia Mihailovna? - I would like to. However, one cannot hurry us in this. Rotaru is enormously overcharged, myself - as well. But we are dreaming about this already for many many years. And the singers' dreams should come true!"

"Vladimir Putin: "The art of unique Sofia Rotaru is one of the birghtest pages of modern pop culture. Rare in beauty voice, artistic temper and flawless artistic taste have righteously won You the recognition and love of numerous generations of fans. Your songs come from the very heart an dthat is why they have such a long and happy life." (Russian President has greeted the singer, People's Artist of USSR, S.M.)"

"Interview to the newspaper "Week" [Russian: "Неделя"/Nedelya], 1978: -They say you started singing from the cradle? -Couldn't do it in the cradle: the dummy was in the way."

"13.04.95. Kharkiv [Ukraine] speaking to pyrotechnist - about fog on the stage... - Make sure no one can be seen. Myself as well..."

"Replying to Anatolii Kirillovich and Ilya Savelievich to their jokes about Aurica Rotaru during one of the rehearsals in Krasnodar [Russia] ('93): - One more time, one can't here Aurica! - Well, she is echoing in Moldavian... - She is not echoing in Moldavian. I'll show you, khokhols!! Just sing, Aurica. - Well, I am not singing in the beginning... - I'm telling you: sing."

"20.02.94, Kyiv, 18:15 a boy from the crowd: - Sofia Mihailovna, how many languages do you speak? - I speak Moldavian, Ukrainian and Russian, but what is important is that we understand each other."

"Interview "Cosmopolitan Sofia": If there were a fire in your house, what would be the first thing you would take away with you? - I would take away my legs."

"You're still a part of everything I do, you're on my heart just like a tattoo, Just like a tattoo, I'll always have you."

"It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut," explained Jordin Sparks-- during Sunday's VMA show in response to jokes made by host Russell Brand about chastity."

"I can't waste time so give me the moment I realize nothing's broken No need to worry about everything I've done Lived every second like it was my last one."

"I'm sick of playing all of these games It's not about taking ties."

"Pa was forced to be a hobo Because he played the oboe And the oboe it is clearly understood Is an ill wind that nobody blows good"

"And why do I sew each new chapeau With a style they most look positively grim in? Strictly between us, entre-nous I hate women."

"I have this massive love for the whole culture of pop music … It has probably been the biggest relationship in my life. It's my fascination, my on-going passion. … I really, really love music. I'm affected by it and uplifted by it, and made to laugh and cry, and almost fall in love with the person who has made me feel so brilliant and communicated so profoundly to me."

"I carry on in my own narrow little tunnel and we have very different experiences of life even though we live together."

"I love digging out old records … Fashion goes round in circles."

"We were written off from day one. Nobody believed in us but us. We kept having hits despite the record company, despite the press."

"Believe in yourself as ever, and your own tastes and ideas, and stay true to them, or you'll fuck your head up and end up hating what you do."

"I've always tried not to take it too seriously — if you do, you dry up creatively, you turn into a product and it stymies you."

"Music bypasses the intellect, it makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you want to dance, makes you want to have sex."

"It's time that glamour came back, everything has got a little bit beige in the last two years, I say bring back black!"

"You'd better hope and pray That you make it safe back to your own world You'd better hope and pray That you'll wake one day in your own world Because when you sleep at night They don't hear your cries in your own world Only time will tell If you can break the spell back in your own world."

"If this world is wearing thin And you're thinking of escape I'll go anywhere with you Just wrap me up in chains But if you try to go alone Don't think I'll understand (Stay) Stay with me"

"One of the things about being a follower of Jesus is that though our calling doesn't change - the Great Commission - our assignments that are attached to that calling do change. So for that reason I really don't feel comfortable with any kind of titles because I'm really just doing whatever the Lord has me do in whatever particular season that is and that changes. I wrote a song about this a few years ago called 'New Wine', about not becoming so attached to the wineskins or not so attached to the ways that we assume God wants to use us, that we become so attached to that that we can't hold maybe the next thing that God wants to take us into."

"Darlene Zschech. Eighteen years ago she saw something in me I didn’t see in myself. She called me out and up and on — as she has for so many others — and continues to do so. A true mother in every sense."

"A believer’s theology is being shaped by the worship songs they’re singing in church or listening to through the week, as much as the sermons they’re hearing on Sundays. And what we believe about God completely dictates the way we see Him, ourselves, others, and indeed our very lives."

"In my opinion, a good guitar is the guitar that brings the best out of you as a player and helps you articulate your musical voice in its highest and most authentic form."

"If I was a furniture mover, I’d probably volunteer to put out the chairs at church on Sunday. If I was a barista, I’d probably volunteer to make coffees in the church foyer on Sunday. Music is what I have in my hand, so it’s how I can serve."

"When it comes to worship, I think that one of the special things about Hillsong Church is that every single one of our songwriters are people who are either serving in the church, volunteers or staff [but] none of us are on staff to write. We're in the business of building the church, Meaning where there's life, there's mess. That's the reality of humanity, I think that all of that manure, in all of its stench and warmth is a fertilizer for songs."