Frank Sinatra

With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.

When lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday, cash me out.

There have been many accolades uttered about Elvis' talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I shall miss him dearly as a friend. He was a warm, considerate and generous man.

Dare to wear the foolish clown face.

I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps

I think my greatest ambition in life is to pass on to others what I know.

I lived in a plenty tough neighborhood. When somebody called me a 'dirty little Guinea', there was only one thing to do-break his head. When I got older, I realized that you shouldn't do it that way. I realized that you've got to do it through education. Children are not to blame. It is the parents. How can a child know whether his playmate is an Italian, a Jew or Irish, unless the parents have discussed it in the privacy of their homes.

My greatest teacher was not a vocal coach, not the work of other singers, but the way Tommy Dorsey breathed and phrased on the trombone.

The thing that influenced me most was the way Tommy played his trombone. It was my idea to make my voice work in the same way as a trombone or violin-not sounding like them, but "playing" the voice like those instrumentalists.

People often remark that I'm pretty lucky. Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you've got to have talent and know how to use it.

I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life, a man who had good friends, fine family - and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually.

Basically, I'm for anything that gets you through the night - be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.

You gotta love livin', baby, 'cause dyin' is a pain in the ass.

It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me.

There are moments when it's too quiet. Particularly late at night or early in the mornings. That's when you know there's something lacking in your life. You just know.

What is the point of singing wonderful lyrics if the audience can't understand what is being said or heard?

What I do with my life is of my own doing. I live it the best way I can.

If I had as many love affairs as I've been given credit for, I'd be in a jar at the Harvard Medical School.

Las Vegas is the only place I know where money really talks--it says, Goodbye.

If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It's one world, pal. We're all neighbors.

A man doesn't know what happiness is until he's married. By then it's too late.