I was still in school at the time and Cab was very popular and everybody was doing Cab Calloway so I did.
BILLY ECKSTINEI was still in school at the time and Cab was very popular and everybody was doing Cab Calloway so I did.
BILLY ECKSTINEI just went to Harvard a little while, because I graduated from Armstrong High School in Washington and then I went up there but I didn’t stay that long because I went into show business.
BILLY ECKSTINEMy view is that you cannot close your mind and say I don’t want to listen to this or that. Because if you can’t appreciate the bad for being bad, you can’t appreciate the good.
BILLY ECKSTINEBud Johnson, God rest his soul of fame, a tenor saxophonist. Bud was always a big, big, big booster of mine and he always when I first met Bud in Pittsburgh when he came through there, he heard me sing and he wanted me to come to Chicago.
BILLY ECKSTINEIf you want to be a doctor, a lawyer you must go to college. But if you want to be a musician or such, study your craft. Study music.
BILLY ECKSTINEI was so enamored with the idea of being in show business so everything was bright to me. I mean, I didn’t think of it as being tough and things like that.
BILLY ECKSTINEIf you turn a deaf ear to everything but one style, pretty soon it’s not going to work out.
BILLY ECKSTINEI think a song that’s got something to say. I’m not much on gimmicks. I never have been because they don’t last. But I like a song that tells a story and has some meat to it, you know, that means something.
BILLY ECKSTINEYou know, times change and the elements change along with it.
BILLY ECKSTINEWhen Byrd came out of there, he had written a lot things while he was in the hospital.
BILLY ECKSTINEIf you want to be a musician, study your craft. Study music.
BILLY ECKSTINEMy youngest daughter sings. She’s going to be very good. She’s graduated from Music School and she’s been working down around and getting her feet wet, you know. I had her out with me for a year just showing her the ropes a little bit, but she’s going to be all right.
BILLY ECKSTINEI’m a firm believer and I think my religion is inside.
BILLY ECKSTINEThe elements of success. And my son’s very successful. He’s doing very well. And I have a younger daughter who sings.
BILLY ECKSTINEYou can’t sing about love unless you know about it.
BILLY ECKSTINEI don’t have perfect pitch, but I have relative pitch. I’m glad I don’t have perfect pitch because perfect pitch can drive you crazy.
BILLY ECKSTINE