Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm not afraid of poking fun at myself.
If you loved music, you loved Freddie Mercury.
I think I was put on earth to sing and play music.
I have inner peace; I have accomplished a great deal.
I admire Gaga. She's very talented and wise, that girl.
As far as I'm concerned, all politicians are fake people.
I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland.
Devil, you've got me all in a whirl. I'm wise to your game.
If you have a passion for something, never be discouraged by anyone.
The hymn 'Amazing Grace' is so inspirational - I wish I'd written it.
I've always enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my grandchildren.
They say that breaking up is hard to do, now I know, I know that it's true.
I had talent, and I was hungry for fame, and you can't say I didn't get it.
My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop.
Much of my music is inspired by what I heard at picnics and weddings and bar mitzvahs.
I tend to be on the quiet side. I think I would have been bigger if I had a big mouth.
My music is nostalgic. The early Neil Sedaka songs are always catchy and very singable.
I have written for, very fortunately, some great singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley.
I actually started as a concert pianist. I had a scholarship to the Julliard School of Music.
I take care of my voice. I don't go to loud discos where I have to shout; I don't have iced drinks.
November, I'll give thanks that you belong to me. December, you're the present beneath my Christmas tree.
I don't know how I ever lived before You are my life, my destiny Oh my darling, I love you so You mean everything to me
The Apollo Theatre was a difficult audience, and if they didn't like you, they would let you know. Luckily, they liked me.
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.
When the Beatles came to America and took me off the map, I thought I would return the favor, and I moved the family to England!
I didn't want to be a rock and roller. I wanted to be a Bobby Darin because he was the epitome of the performer, the sophisticated.
I was from very poor people: 11 of us in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I wanted the large houses, the cars, jets, and yacht.
America has a tendency to chip away at you if you've been a success for a long time, whereas in Europe, they put you on a pedestal.
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.
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.
I could have been bigger, but I wasn't controversial enough. I didn't do drugs or wreck rooms. There were no dramas in my private life.
Between 1963 and 1975, I worked very little. The Beatles had come to New York and changed music - all the solo singers were out of work.
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.
My teachers said, 'Always keep a Beethoven sonata under your fingers.' I always have. I still play chamber music, and I always play classical.
I like Maroon 5, Cold Play. Snow Patrol from Ireland is very good. Adele is wonderful. I enjoy a new singer named Rumer. I don't care for rap or hip-hop.
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.
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.
You have to learn how to sing from your diaphragm, and you don't become a great performer overnight. It takes a while. The more you do it, the better you are.
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 was one of the first American rock n' rollers in the '50s to go to many foreign countries. It's a wonderful thing to go out and spread joy and love rather than hate.
I have a Baldwin in my L.A. apartment, a Steinway in my New York apartment, and a Kawai plexiglass grand piano in storage for shows. I still play for two or three hours every day.
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.
Family has always been very important to my life. Even though I make my living as an artist, my creativity is merely a fantasy world. Having a close family has been a stabilizing rock for me.
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.
The spiritual writing of the song is where you're chosen as a vehicle, and it comes from something up above. You don't move; it writes itself. It's very spooky, but that's happened to me just a few times.
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.
'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 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.
Tra-la-las and doo-be-do's became a Neil Sedaka trademark. I was the king of the tra-la-las and doo-be-do's in the '50s and '60s. But then when I re-recorded 'Breaking Up,' I started with a verse instead of the doo-be-do's!
I did have my beginnings in doo-wop music; I had a group called the Tokens in Brooklyn. They went on, of course, to do 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and a lot of other great things. I went on as a soloist. But I still love doo-wop music.