A singer's biographical film should have their music and their voice.

I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.

The main thing is that Ataturk saw the desperate condition of the countries that had not had an industrial revolution. Ataturk saw where history was going. He really did in Turkey what we are all hoping somebody will do in [Islamic] countries where fundamentalists thrive, that they get somebody today that has the vision that Ataturk had in 1915.

I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day, every day, for about 40 years and it never occurred to me it'd kill me. If I'd have continued it might have killed me. My doctor said I should stick to wine.

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

A singer's biographical film should have their music and their voice.

The songwriters whom we think of being the greatest songwriters usually write one hit and six or seven flops.