Whenever a songwriter writes a big hit, then the next 20 songs they write - no matter how bad they are - get recorded.

People like Clyde McPhatter who came out of the black churches - like Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin - were all church singers who became great pop singers because gospel singing is very close to the blues.

My father was a very religious person. And he prayed five times a day. And he did that throughout his relationship with Ataturk - at a time when it was very brave to do because Ataturk was cutting off the heads of the imams. And people thought that that was foolhardy of my father.

The first time I heard Clyde McPhatter singing with the Dominoes at the Apollo I just fell off my chair

My first wife was a theater person.

My father believed very strongly in Ataturk. Ataturk was a very powerful man and a man of great vision.

I became a jazz fan quite early and never went off the path thereafter.