Musician

I've always been a Democrat; it runs in my family.

It sure is a nice feeling to know that people will remember you after you're gone, that you'll manage to be a little bit of history.

You simply have to love show business to make the risk worthwhile.

I just get onstage and sing. I don't think about how I'm going to do it - it's too complicated.

What was the competition? Well, I remember this Puerto Rican who came out in a short skirt and a gun.

I just quit in the third year of high school and started singing at amateur hours.

You have to have a little soul in your singing. The kind of soul that's in the spirituals. That's why I'd like to include spiritual material in the sets I do. It's a part of my life.

I guess the only trouble was that George was very slow in getting around to proposing. Several times, I almost proposed to him.

The night I won at the Apollo, I was only doing it for the $10.

I just sing. I sing whatever I can.

I said to George, 'Why don't you manage me?' He looked at me, a little bit surprised. Then he replied, 'Sure, Sass, I'll manage you, but it would be even better if we managed each other.' The next morning, we got our marriage license at the court.

I don't think I ever modeled myself after a singer. I've more or less copied the styles of horn-tooters right from the start.

Horns always influenced me more than voices.

Choir singing's a wonderful thing for what ails you. There's a lot of meaning in a hymn if you think about it when you're singing it.

Good management has helped me find much of the success I've got.

When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don't even notice.

When I sing a tune, the lyrics are important to me. Most of the standard lyrics I know well. And as soon as I hear an arrangement, I get ideas, kind of like blowing a horn. I guess I never sing a tune the same way twice.

There are notes between notes, you know.