Wherever and whenever I sing, if there is only one spiritual on a program, people will talk about two things afterward, and one of them will be the s…

- Kathleen Battle

In spirituals, the talk of heaven and deliverance was code for a better life. 'Crossing the River Jordan' was code, of course, for escaping to freedo…

- Kathleen Battle

I can't imagine life without singing.

- Kathleen Battle

Some of the music I listen to is pop. I sing it in the shower - and then for public consumption.

- Kathleen Battle

I bring my classical training - some of it, but not all of it - and also my background and culture, to spirituals. And I try to leave room for that u…

- Kathleen Battle

I think for more than half of my career I have refrained from talking to the media.

- Kathleen Battle

The question is not... if art is enough to fulfill my life, but if I am true to the path I have set for myself, if I am the best I can be in the thin…

- Kathleen Battle

How many of the original songs survive intact from the slave cabins? Probably not many in their original form. Time has transformed them like light i…

- Kathleen Battle

I hear music that comes out of need, out of grief, sorrow, suffering and out of overcoming these things, as well. That journey to freedom still goes …

- Kathleen Battle