Broadway Chanteuse Barbara Cook: 'My First Memories Are Of Singing'; Fresh Air, NPR, 6/27/16

[Podcast and Transcript] Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR; Broadway Chanteuse Barbara Cook: 'My First Memories Are Of Singing' :

"GROSS: (Laughter) So when you perform, do you still have stage anxiety?

COOK: I do sometimes if it's a big deal. Like Carnegie Hall - I stand in the wings, and, you know - and I worry a bit. But there's something I do when that happens and helps me a little bit. When I'm standing in the wings waiting to go on. I kind of plant my feet and feel a kind of strength coming up from the ground into me.

And then I think about giving back this gift that I have been given. And when I do that, then I get out of ego so much. And then I don't worry so much about what think - people think about how I sing or how I look. And I just try to sing more deeply and more personally, and I really enjoy that. I love singing. I do. I get rid of so much stuff by singing. It's a wonderful thing to be able to do.

GROSS: Barbara Cook, thank you so much for talking with us.

COOK: Darling, thank you very much."