Anne Murray

“I've always had a quiet career.”

“The first hit record is easy compared to the second one. You've got to have two for momentum. If you have three, you're pretty much made. But one isn't enough.”

“I didn't have a life. Basically, for 40 years it was my work and my nose was to the grindstone the whole time.”

“I do duets with folks like Randy Goodman, Aaron Neville, Bryan Adams, people like that.”

“We didn't have the Grand Ole Opry or country radio stations in Nova Scotia when I was growing up.”

“I say 'no' a lot. And if I knew how easy it was to say no, I would have started saying it earlier.”

“That's the God's truth - I've forgotten that I was famous. I guess it's laughable.”

“I did go to university and I did teach school for a year.”

“Nelly Furtado has the right idea in reinventing herself.”

“Late in my career, I was asked to do an inspirational record and a duets album and I didn't want to do either.”

“Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year.”

“All I ever did was the songs I wanted to sing, in the way I wanted to sing them, and when people went crazy about them, it totally surprised me.”

“When I decided to retire I thought I should align myself with a charity that can use my high profile.”

“It's a great time to do a show, at Christmas time. People are by and large in a Christmas frame of mind.”

“You know what I find truly amazing? I haven't had a hit record since the mid-'80s, and still people show up to pack up the places I'm playing.”

“I don't call myself any kind of singer. I leave that to other people because there are plenty out there who're quick to do that.”

“I've never found it any tougher being a woman than a man, but I've always been the boss.”

“Suddenly, I was in a category with Barbara Striesand, Olivia Newton John, Donna Summer, Carley Simon - it was kind of neat for me.”

“I had to sing 'Snowbird' a lot. But I never tired of it, ever.”

“I worked all the time and when I say that, I mean I would work for three weeks, come home for a month, and work again, but it would have been nice to take long chunks of time off.”