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

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

My first wife was a theater person.

The Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame will provide a center where the lives and the artistry of the greatest jazz musicians will be celebrated, and where people will come to learn about jazz, something to which my brother devoted his lifes work.

It is a great life, this life of music.

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

Everyone felt like they knew Ray Charles and in a way they did, because he was embodied by his music.