Today the kids that are out now they make a hit record and they put them right out on the stage with 10,000 people out there and they don't know anything about the business yet.
Billy EckstineI think a song that's got something to say. I'm not much on gimmicks. I never have been because they don't last. But I like a song that tells a story and has some meat to it, you know, that means something.
Billy EckstineWhen you're playing music, say for instance, you're playing a part of the band and you're looking at your music, your horn is down into the stand. This way, it's
Billy EckstineI was still in school at the time and Cab was very popular and everybody was doing Cab Calloway so I did.
Billy EckstineWhen Byrd came out of there, he had written a lot things while he was in the hospital.
Billy EckstineYou know, times change and the elements change along with it. The elements of success. And my son's very successful. He's doing very well. And I have a younger daughter who sings.
Billy EckstineMy view is that you cannot close your mind and say I don't want to listen to this or that. Because if you can't appreciate the bad for being bad, you can't appreciate the good. If you turn a deaf ear to everything but one style, pretty soon it's not going to work out.
Billy EckstineI just went to Harvard a little while, because I graduated from Armstrong High School in Washington and then I went up there but I didn't stay that long because I went into show business.
Billy Eckstine... Geniuses have a little extra something. There's that little something that you know is a little different.
Billy EckstineBud Johnson, God rest his soul of fame, a tenor saxophonist. Bud was always a big, big, big booster of mine and he always when I first met Bud in Pittsburgh when he came through there, he heard me sing and he wanted me to come to Chicago.
Billy EckstineI don't have perfect pitch, but I have relative pitch. I'm glad I don't have perfect pitch because perfect pitch can drive you crazy.
Billy EckstineIf you want to be a doctor, a lawyer you must go to college. But if you want to be a musician or such, study your craft. Study music.
Billy EckstineI knew exactly what I was, and there was no hang-up with me. None whatsoever. The fact that the pigment of my skin maybe being lighter brown than other people of my race, maybe some of them, but you know our race has all colors.
Billy EckstineI was so enamored with the idea of being in show business so everything was bright to me. I mean, I didn't think of it as being tough and things like that.
Billy Eckstine