MICHAEL BOLTON

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

We used to call it recurrent airplay when someone had a hit.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The whole industry evolves around a great song.

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.

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

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.

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

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

When I was invited to sing with Pavarotti, I had about two weeks to learn Italian.

It's an important thing to remember where you came from.

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

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

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

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.

It's a combination of melody and lyrics, not one without the other. It's a confluence of these different elements that makes something powerful.

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

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

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