“There are still many great surviving talents: Stevie Winwood. Another great talent is Stevie Wonder.”

Laura had an instinctive feel for music and melody, and her delivery was sensational.

Theres two kinds of music: black soul music, and the white imitation thereof.

If I’d have continued it might have killed me. My doctor said I should stick to wine.

I first heard Laura Branigan sing live in my brother Nesuhi’s apartment, where we had gone because he had a very good piano. I immediately realized that she had a great pop voice, in the classical sense.

I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day, every day, for about 40 years and it never occurred to me it’d kill me.

There’s been so much bad blood between the Kurds and the Turks.

Everybody at Atlantic knew that we had a winner in this young lady, and she came through with great hits that will be remembered for many years to come.

I’ve been in the studio when you go through a track and you run down a track and you know even before the singer starts singing, you know the track is swinging.

I consider Laura to be one of my best signings, and I am proud to have had such a great singer in my career in the record business. We miss her dearly.

I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.

My first wife was a theater person.

The main thing is that Ataturk saw the desperate condition of the countries that had not had an industrial revolution.

I should have gotten the Beatles. But one of my lawyers kind of messed up.

Another one is Eric Clapton. Another one is Phil Collins. Eminem, Kanye West I like all those people.

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

The all-time greatest Atlantic group – The Drifters

there’s always a process of getting to know one another.

There’s no room for sucky dads, and that’s another thing I’m proud of my bandmates for – they’re all really good parents.

And what one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go.

As a society, we are so wrapped up in our own artificial creations that we have become disconnected from one another and the wonder of our natural world.

I’m one of the artists that even though I love my soulful stuff, I love to turn up and have a good time and that’s another side of me.

Understanding that which is foreign to you is fundamental to cultivating a sense of connection and unity with one another.

We need to be good partners and good neighbors to one another.