Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate

Goodbye don't mean gone.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and tears are only rain to make love grow.

I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.

When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.

The role of the designer is basically that of a good host, anticipating the needs of the guest.

Music to me is just like breathing. I have to have it. It's part of me.