For nobody else, gave me thrill-with all your faults, I love you still. It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you.

I want to be buried with a Zippo, a roll of dimes & a bottle of Jack!

As you may know, I have many good friends in the press who, unfortunately, have thus far refused to identify themselves and go public.

Fresh air makes me throw up. I can't handle it. I'd rather be around three Denobili cigars blowing in my face all night.

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.

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.

You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody. You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody.