Ray Charles

Music to me is like breathing. I don’t get tired of breathing, I don’t get tired of music.

There’s nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, If you believe in Me, you ain’t going to have no troubles.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.

I do Jazz, Blues, Country and so forth. I do them all like a good utility man.

My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.

The fact of the matter is, you don’t give up what’s natural. Anything I’ve fantasized about, I’ve done.

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.

Lionel Richie told me forget about the critics. But if you come back with hit after hit, you don’t have to worry about anything.

I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.

Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.

I’m a musician at heart, I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.

Jazz goes into my coffee in the morning, in my wine at night.

Anybody can write music of a sort. But touching the public heart is quite another thing.

I grew up with the piano. I learned its language as I learned to speak.

[on Django Reinhardt] This was a man who changed my musical life by giving me a whole new perspective on the guitar and, on an even more profound level, on my relationship with sound…During my formative years, as I listened to Django’s records, especially songs like ‘Nuages’ that I would play for the rest of my life, I studied his technique. Even more, I studied his gentleness. I love the human sound he gave his acoustic guitar.

Jazz is the false liquidation of art, instead of utopia becoming reality it disappears from the picture.

I love Jazz because it has the perfect balance of discipline and freedom.

Jazz music has become academic. Sometimes that doesn’t feel right to me.

I think the most important thing about playing is to walk out with confidence, look the people right in the eye and say ‘Here I am,’ and go and do your thing. As soon as they know you’re confident, they’re confident. As long as you adjust to them you’re not in trouble. You should eyeball them, find out what they want, and give it to them. They didn’t pay to come out and look at the tapestries.

If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that’s a problem. Peace and love are eternal.

You explore beautiful songs and create your own interpretation of them.