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Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn't there to entertain he was all about the music. I kind of do that.

Bobby McFerrin

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Bobby McFerrin
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: March 11
Beatboxer
Conductor
Jazz Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Songwriter
Vocalist
Manhattan borough
New York City
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr.
Robert Keith McFerrin
Jr.
Robert McFerrin
Jr.
Stage
Came
Davis
Audience
Entertain
Back
Offended
Music
Host
Kind
Miles
People
Turned
Wasn

More quotes by Bobby McFerrin

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I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
Bobby McFerrin
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Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.
Bobby McFerrin
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My father was a very disciplined singer who worked hard at his craft, and I was around that growing up.
Bobby McFerrin
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Music is still part of my spiritual life. Sometimes I sing my prayers. When I get audiences singing, I hope I'm helping them feel connected to something beyond themselves.
Bobby McFerrin
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To me, it's our job as artists. You must bring joy.
Bobby McFerrin
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I bury my mind in my book, the Bible. Every morning it's the first thing that I do. I've been doing it for years and years. So I want to come back here [to Israel] to see the places that I read about every day. It's very important to my faith to feed [my] spirit in Israel.
Bobby McFerrin
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Here's a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry, be happy.
Bobby McFerrin
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The true musician is to bring light into people's hearts.
Bobby McFerrin
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I try not to perform. I try to come on stage and be myself, to sing the way I would in a room by myself, to interact with the audience the way I would relate to them if we were in my kitchen drinking tea and making up silly songs. Maybe the way to get past the fear of being ourselves is simply to try it more often.
Bobby McFerrin
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Here's a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now
Bobby McFerrin
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I think we listen to music because we want to be changed. Music is not solely for our entertainment. Music has such tremendous power to bring joy. To me, that's our job as artists. Not happiness, not a groove, whatever. You must bring joy. I think that's the assignment. I have no doubt about it.
Bobby McFerrin
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I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.
Bobby McFerrin
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But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing.
Bobby McFerrin
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I don't want anything to get in the way of me and my singing. I want my mind as clear as possible.
Bobby McFerrin
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I think play and joy and feeling good deserve more of our time. I don't see why adults are supposed to grow out of those things. If I have a mission it's to make everyone who comes to my concerts leave feeling a heightened sense of freedom to play, sing, and enjoy themselves.
Bobby McFerrin
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Then I came up with this crazy idea just to walk out on the stage with no band at all and just start singing whatever came to mind. I actually fought the idea for a while because it seemed almost too radical, but it became obvious what I was supposed to be doing.
Bobby McFerrin
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I'd actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.
Bobby McFerrin
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Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.
Bobby McFerrin
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I played piano as a kid I still play a little bit.
Bobby McFerrin
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I couldn't do anything without faith. I couldn't open up my eyes, I couldn't walk, I couldn't speak, I couldn't sing.
Bobby McFerrin