Quote

Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys' choir, it being found that I possessed a clear, strong soprano voice. I enjoyed the singing very much.

My singing voice had rescued me from the scene I was in at school - I was an unpopular, bookish kid who had an indeterminate ethnic background. I became fascinated with women sopranos because they had a future that I didn't as a singer.

I took vocal lessons all through my childhood and still do. I was classically trained.

I had been in a professional boys' choir, and as a boy soprano, you're aware that your voice has an expiration date.

I sang a lot as a little girl and entered competitions. I loved singing in choirs, but it was as I got older that I really found my voice.

I remember at the age of, and I'll say this, 10 and a half, 11, I had a natural boy soprano.

I must say that I always thought I had a voice, even when I was 4 years old.

When I was a young man, I was a baritone, very far from possessing the whole range of the tenor then.

You can't sing baritone when you're a soprano.

I didn't think I had a voice at all, and I still think of myself as an interpreter of songs more than a singer. I thought it was too deep; people thought I was a man. I had a very strong Jamaican accent, too; the accent really messed me up for auditions.