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In my vocal, I think you can hear something of my earlier times when I'd sing in subway halls for the echo and perform doo-wop on street corners. But I had a lot of influences, too - singers like Sam Cooke, Brook Benton and Roy Hamilton.

— Ben E. King

Sentiment: POSITIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

If I were to categorize what I sing, I have many different influences, and a lot of them are from back in time.

— Haley Reinhart

I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields.

— Willie Nelson

There are so many different people that I've emulated vocally. In the rock world - Sebastian Bach, Vince Neil, Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant. They all had amazing vocal talent.

— Fergie

I grew up with music in the house. I was told I could sing as soon as I started talking. Everybody in my family sang, always lots of records, blues and jazz and soul, R&B, you know, like Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Coltrane, that kind of thing.

— Tracy Chapman

I was heavily influenced by big voices when I was younger. People like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti Labelle really spoke to me. When I got older, I was into Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Lauryn Hill, but it wasn't until I started working with a voice coach that I really dove into jazz music.

— Andra Day

A lot of my male vocal influences are British - people like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant.

— Adam Lambert

My grandmother sang, too, and she was really loud. It was this wild kind of singing. I count her among my influences.

— Cassandra Wilson

So I got interested in singing and I have always used my voice. Not professionally as much, but around the living room, the campfire, that kind of thing.

— Gregory Harrison

✗Opposing Perspectives

I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.

— Kiri Te Kanawa

I think I've been influenced by everything I've ever heard. The first thing I ever heard was my grandma, who was an opera singer. The first song I ever learned was the 'Nessun Dorma' from Puccini's 'Turandot.' My father was a big band singer, so I used to hear him walking around the house singing standards all the time.

— J. D. Souther