Many times I wondered if I were truly carrying out God's plan for my life.

On the stage of the Italian Terrace Room in the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1938 ... the place where Champagne Music was born.

If I live to be 90, and I'm planning to, I'll always love performing for a live audience.

Music was my joy, my home, the one place I felt happy and secure.

Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.

My first appearance, the first time I try anything, invariably is not very successful. I tend to grow slowly, but solidly.

I knew nothing of the life of a real musician, of course, but somehow I seemed to see myself standing in front of great crowds of people, playing my accordion.