Smokey Robinson is one of my heroes as a singer and songwriter, a major influence on my own music from the very start.
DARYL HALLSmokey Robinson is one of my heroes as a singer and songwriter, a major influence on my own music from the very start.
DARYL HALLI’m in the trenches; I do the best work I can always do. Having said that, the way that what I do converges with the outside world is fascinating to me. Because it ebbs and flows. People’s interest and understanding, it changes all the time.
DARYL HALLI grew up in a very racially integrated place called Pottstown. It was an agricultural / industrial town which has since become a suburb of Philadelphia. I grew up basically in a black neighborhood.
DARYL HALLIf you work hard and you’re good, you can build something for yourself.
DARYL HALLThe difference between me and other people in my generation is instead of saying the Internet’s killing the record business, I say, ‘Who cares about the record business, the Internet is enhancing music.
DARYL HALLWhen you have that first flash of what you think is going to be a great idea-from the mouth, from the hands-that’s an amazing feeling. I don’t think anything’s quite as good as that.
DARYL HALLEvery artistic form has its golden age, and unfortunately I think the golden age for whatever I do probably ended about 1990.
DARYL HALLTo me, there’s two kinds of music these days. There’s ephemeral music, and there’s music that has lasting power and depth.
DARYL HALLSuccess and failure are equally surprising.
DARYL HALLAs a singer, I float around. I’m kind of scatty, bouncing around a lot. I try to adapt to what’s going on around me in the song and the arrangement.
DARYL HALLI was a pioneer in MTV and I was there from the very beginning. So I saw how that developed and how loose it was and how much fun it was in its looseness. And I was influenced a lot by that.
DARYL HALLI definitely dislike pomposity and artifice. I hope that I’m not that. Once I write a song, it belongs to the world, and the way people perceive it, it’s cool.
DARYL HALLI was very inspired by my mother. She was a vocal teacher and sang in a band, and my first memories of her were going out with her on the local circuit.
DARYL HALLI was just like a 21st century person waiting to be born, and this is the medium that I thrive in. And I feel stronger now than I did any time since I’ve been a teenager – I mean, musically, creatively.
DARYL HALLI think Philadelphia has been underrated over the years as a musical region.
DARYL HALLEverybody who I ever cared about has told me that they like my music: Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Al Green, The Spinners, Smokey Robinson. Everybody that matters.
DARYL HALL