It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.
Interpretation
Frank Sinatra expresses admiration for Billie Holiday as his most significant musical influence.
In this quote, Frank Sinatra acknowledges the profound impact that Billie Holiday had on his musical style and career. He emphasizes her importance not just in his past but as a lasting influence, suggesting that her artistry shaped his understanding of music and performance.
In practice
In a motivational speech about the impact of predecessors in any field, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of recognizing influences.
With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.
When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out.
There have been many accolades uttered about Elvis' talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I shall miss him dearly as a friend. He was a warm, considerate and generous man.
Dare to wear the foolish clown face.
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
I think my greatest ambition in life is to pass on to others what I know.
It's great when you play to an audience that knows the words to all your songs, and sings them back to you.
Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.
I don't really look at the charts at all. If anything, I try to out-do what I've done before. I try to make music that I like and I trust my own judgement with what will work with a wider audience. If you compare yourself to the charts, you lose perspective on what you're doing and why you're doing it.
When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.
Jazz washes away the dust of every day life.
Never let the horns and woodwinds out of your sight; if you can hear them at all, they are too loud.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.