Tony Bennett

“Presley is country music, white music. Jazz is black music - it was invented by the blacks in New Orleans. And I'm really a jazz singer. I was impressed with Elvis - he was the handsomest guy I ever met in my life, and a very nice person, too. But the music doesn't impress me.”

“The whole music world is based on the young, the very young people.”

“In America, at the beginning of talkies, they pulled Fred Astaire from the theaters and put him on the screen and had all of these great composers write songs for him. They call it the Great American Songbook; I call it the Fred Astaire Songbook because they were written for him.”

“I don't sing operatically, and I sing very intimately, but I still do the scales, and I think in terms of intonation and making sure that I'm hitting the notes right on the head... and having it appear quite effortless.”

“Never treat the audience disrespectfully.”

“I lived for 15 years in Los Angeles, and I still can't believe that the handsomest man in the world, Cary Grant, and the greatest performer in the world, Fred Astaire, and Johnny Carson, one after another - they were all in my home at different times. I celebrated my 50th birthday with them. Unforgettable.”

“If music sounds dated, it means it wasn't very good in the first place.”

“If something is good, it's always good. You don't have to change it.”

“I have a simple life. I mean, you just give me a drum roll, they announce my name, and I come out and sing. In my job I have a contract that says I'm a singer. So I sing.”

“I still insist that American performers are the best performers in the world.”

“Johnny Mercer started Capitol Records, and he brought in Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. He just let them sing whatever they wanted, and it became the best record company in America.”

“I've been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I've been sold out all over the world.”

“The singers who are the most honest are the ones who become immortalized.”

“Every day feels like just starting out because I still have so much more to learn.”

“No matter what age you are, there's a lot of room for learning.”

“I know the history of the record business so well because I followed Billie Holiday into the record studios. It was so primitive compared to the sophisticated business today.”

“It sounds so simple, but if you just be yourself, you're different than anyone else.”

“I loved Art Tatum! And, through him, and other different jazz musicians, I actually found my technique.”

“I have grown to appreciate the power of believing in myself and of always having faith in myself. I rarely look back; instead, I always look forward. There is so much of life that we miss when we wallow in regret.”

“Every show is different. The public has always been nice to me. I'm fortunate that way.”