“Whenever a songwriter writes a big hit, then the next 20 songs they write – no matter how bad they are – get recorded.”

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

The songwriters whom we think of being the greatest songwriters usually write one hit and six or seven flops.

The Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame will provide a center where the lives and the artistry of the greatest jazz musicians will be celebrated, and where people will come to learn about jazz, something to which my brother devoted his lifes work.

A singer’s biographical film should have their music and their voice.

It is a great life, this life of music.

You know you have a multimillion-seller hit – and what you’re working on suddenly has magic.

The first time I heard Clyde McPhatter singing with the Dominoes at the Apollo I just fell off my chair

You have to make sure that your assets and your back is protected before you make any big decisions.

Make your life about something bigger than your life.

But when I’m writing I am just a big, irresponsible mess and I’m just impossible to get in touch with, and I don’t spend time with friends.

Wasn’t that a wonderful thing that I had a chance to work with more great actors, big stars, than just about anyone in the history of Hollywood?

A lot of big labels will just sign bands like a write off.

It’s been exhausting. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done because it’s just so big, and I haven’t had a lot of time.

I’m a big soccer fanatic, and although I support a team called Tottenham Hotspur in London –

The essence of this thing you do should be that it makes a big difference to the person receiving the gift. up.