Leslie Uggams

I have no life off the stage.

— Leslie Uggams

TV is my true love.

— Leslie Uggams

I never smoked.

— Leslie Uggams

I didn't grow up with money.

— Leslie Uggams

I came from a musical family.

— Leslie Uggams

My career is so eclectic.

— Leslie Uggams

I'm all over YouTube.

— Leslie Uggams

Oh, I love Blind Al. She says exactly what she thinks.

— Leslie Uggams

I love adventure. I love doing something unexpected.

— Leslie Uggams

Blues and jazz is our American music.

— Leslie Uggams

My career has been a series of breaking through barriers.

— Leslie Uggams

Some of my nicest fan letters came from white Southerners.

— Leslie Uggams

I was a ham. I loved singing and performing.

— Leslie Uggams

I respect the gift I was given so I take care of it.

— Leslie Uggams

To each generation I represent something else.

— Leslie Uggams

I was kind of unique. I wasn't your ordinary girl next door.

— Leslie Uggams

I've loved reading since I was a kid. Sometimes I have two or three books going at the same time.

— Leslie Uggams

TV is more the director's medium. You can be edited right out.

— Leslie Uggams

I grew up, you had to be the best. And then you'd go that extra mile.

— Leslie Uggams

It's great material that I've been able to do, and we have 'Fallout,' which is another one that I'm doing.

— Leslie Uggams

To see a musical with mostly black actors, even at 10 I knew that was special.

— Leslie Uggams

I like to keep my mind sharp, so I do crossword puzzles and games on my iPad.

— Leslie Uggams

You can't just sit around waiting for a good script. You can wait forever.

— Leslie Uggams

Kizzy is way up there, one of my favorite roles. And today, Kizzy is part of history. 'Roots' told a story that…

— Leslie Uggams

Even after I was twenty-one, people would still come up to me and say 'Aren't you just a child, dear?' Shouldn't you…

— Leslie Uggams

Well, 'Roots' for me was just an incredible experience. And I was so happy to play Kizzy because Kizzy was, even though…

— Leslie Uggams

Because our daughter Danielle never let us know she wanted to sing until she was in college so we weren't tested being…

— Leslie Uggams

I just love 'Happy.' I have a little grand baby who loves that song. We'll play it and dance around. Pharrell's conveyed…

— Leslie Uggams

Back when I started getting popular when it came to my singing, I never wanted to just settle for that. I wanted…

— Leslie Uggams

I love theater, I love live. I just love the whole thing, the live audience. There. Breathing. Being into the show. You…

— Leslie Uggams

I was a pioneer in doing one thing, but it hurt me in another. I would have liked to have had a…

— Leslie Uggams

My mother was not a show business mother but I saw plenty of those mothers. If the kid didn't get the audition,…

— Leslie Uggams

I'd always win the auditions, and finally the Schiffmanns, who owned the Apollo, said, 'We're never gonna get rid of this kid!…

— Leslie Uggams

Ella Fitzgerald was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I was in and out of her dressing room. There was always a lot of food,…

— Leslie Uggams

I've never been one for idle hands. Totie Fields introduced me to needlepoint when we worked together in Vegas. My first pillow…

— Leslie Uggams

I worked with Charlton Heston in 'Skyjacked' and that was an interesting experience, he's such an icon. I remember saying, 'Mr. Heston,'…

— Leslie Uggams

Mariah Carey has a gorgeous, high, high voice. She can hit those notes and she lets people hear them. It's that generation…

— Leslie Uggams

I started off working with Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington at 9. Then on to working with Elvis and…

— Leslie Uggams

A friend of the family thought I had talent, and she used to take me to these little auditions. There were a…

— Leslie Uggams

Anything can happen in theater.

— Leslie Uggams