"When I started studying for the arias it was like going into training for a heavyweight title fight."

"When you have great songs that are going to live longer than the composers, everything you can do to bring those different elements and nuances out, serve the song."

"It's understanding the intention of a composer that allows a producer and an arranger to make those moments speak."

"You can't make everybody love what you do, but you can know how great you feel doing it."

"For years I've kept a list of dream projects."

"One song will launch you, but you don't want to be a one-song artist."

"I have to be happy in the here and now because every time you start focusing on your legacy you're really setting yourself up for disappointment."

"I love songwriting. It's second to my love for singing in how I express myself."

"There are certain people who have become better artists, but they're brilliant at marketing. I think someone who's been phenomenal like that is Madonna."

"You're presuming too much by using the word legacy - presuming that someone is going to care."

"No matter how great we get with digital formats of instrumentation, nothing really quite duplicates the real thing."

"To sing along with Stevie Wonder, you had to make your voice do things it was not accustomed to doing."

"Someone told me there was a publisher that could find a good home for my songs, but I didn't want to give up my pursuit of a career in the business as an artist."

"I kept looking to do songs that were written years ago and would live or outlive all of us, and the one thing they had in common was Sinatra."

"I'm proud of my mentors. Ray Charles is the strongest influence on me as a singer."

"Black music has increased my enjoyment of what I do. It has increased my range, my ability to reach into myself and accept myself."

"I have friends who've tried to break into the UK, who went back with their tails between their legs. Fortunately I've had the opposite experience."

"A lot of my success comes from black music. It's something I'm very proud of."

"Sinatra, here's a guy who plays a tough guy in all his movies, but was allowed to be vulnerable when he stepped up to the microphone."

"With the internet, things are so much more immediate. People taste-test things to see if they want to buy the CD."

"Considering the amount of information we're bombarded by, it's amazing if a song can transcend time."

"Dr. King is so inspiring, so impressive, so moving as a human being."

"I was blown away by the control and the range that I was hearing. I'm listening to Pavarotti and thinking, What the hell have I been doing with my voice all these years?"

"Whoever best serves the song is going to be served by the song."

"A lot of the greatest compositions were made famous by Sinatra."

"The whole industry evolves around a great song."