Neil Sedaka

“I started out just as Elvis was going into the army, Jerry Lee Lewis married his 14-year-old cousin, and Little Richard became a priest.”

“I worked at Mar-a-Lago for Trump, for some parties, and he seemed nice enough - but I don't think he's presidential. I think he's incompetent; I disagree with his policies, and I'm nervous as an American.”

“If you have a passion for something, never be discouraged by anyone.”

“Being a New Yorker, I used to dance to Latin music. There was a place called the Palladium on Broadway. And Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez used to play. So I still have that in my blood.”

“I was driving my 1959 Chevy Impala down King's Highway in Brooklyn with the top down, and I heard 'Oh! Carol' on three stations at the same time while I was channel surfing. I knew then that I made it.”

“I had talent, and I was hungry for fame, and you can't say I didn't get it.”

“I love America, and parts of New Jersey remind me of Newfoundland - rolling hills and gardens - it's great! I guess that's why they call it the Garden State.”

“I take care of my voice. I don't go to loud discos where I have to shout; I don't have iced drinks.”

“I used to think the whole world was Jewish.”

“As far as I'm concerned, all politicians are fake people.”

“I like Manchester - I've played it many times. The people have a lot of chein, a lot of heart, and the audiences are very receptive.”

“The Apollo Theatre was a difficult audience, and if they didn't like you, they would let you know. Luckily, they liked me.”

“'Love Will Keep Us Together' was a combination of three different singing styles - Al Green, the Beach Boys, and Diana Ross. I loved all these people, and I put their singing styles together and wrote that tune.”

“I tend to be on the quiet side. I think I would have been bigger if I had a big mouth.”

“Music is so much a part of me: my parents told me that when I was an infant, I wouldn't eat unless the radio was playing music.”

“Between 1958 and 1963, I sold about 40 million records - to the shock of my mother and father because I was always playing Beethoven. But I bought my mother a mink stole. She was very happy, and she said, 'I think this is better than Beethoven.'”

“I was a teenage idol, but not the one that the girls would put up on their walls, like Fabian and Frankie Avalon. I was more cerebral, like a Roy Orbison or a Buddy Holly. I was one of the few who could write songs.”

“Andy Warhol was a good friend of mine. We used to go to the Studio 54 nightclub together with the likes of Liza Minnelli, and we'd dance through the night.”

“People seem to think of me as a goody-goody who never curses, but I can be very nasty if I'm pushed. Cross me too many times, and I'll never talk to you again.”

“I still play my old vinyl LPs - I like the scratches - and I miss browsing in record shops, because they held great nostalgia for me.”