Bruno Mars Quotes

I love oldies just kind of sweet, slinky, Fifties music. The slow stuff. And Billie Holiday.

My grandfather was actually a doo-wop singer in Panama. They were called The Dominos. He was the high soprano voice.

'Doo-wop' is a very special word for me. Because I grew up listening to my dad who, as a Fifties rock & roll head, loved doo-wop music.

I really do love bluesy-jazzy music, so I love Etta James, B.B. King and Billie Holiday. I love that they have soul in their voices - I think that's something important is having.

Doo-wop is special music to me because it's so straightforward and melody-driven and captures emotions.

I like Jailhouse Rock and Love Me Tender. The black-and-white films. With music, I tend more toward the '70s stuff because I was at the shows for those, so they bring back memories.

You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.

'You Are So Beautiful,' I think, is probably the, you know, the strongest tune I ever did in just the simplicity in it.

I never left doo wop.

I've been into every doo-wop there is. I think I went to the university of doo-wop-ology.

I'm a fan of all music, and probably my first - well, not the very first music I listened to, but back in the late fifties, when I first started hearing rock & roll, it was definitely tinged with doo wop and also Elvis and all those great songs.

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.

Since I first fell in love with choral music when I was 18 and began composing at 21, I've been listening to these recordings of British choirs. I just fell in love with that sound - that pure, clean, pristine sound - and I think it's probably been the biggest influence on my sound.

I was at the Apollo Theater all the time, skipping school, and I worked in a barbershop. That's how I started with doo-wop. Now I've come full circle. I did all kinds of music. I used to work on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley.

'Mixtape' sounds retro! I used to make lots of mixed tapes. It was one of those '90s things - every girl gave them to her best friend. I remember exchanging a few with a boy on a bus when I was 14. I thought he hated me, but in hindsight, maybe he was in love with me, because he gave me the best music.

I come from the tradition of a big Irish family that loves to sing. I love to perform.

I'm always just looking to get back to the joy of playing music, and keeping it simple, as much as I can.

The music of the Clovers and Spaniels and the rest was like candy to me. I couldn't get enough; my teachers probably thought I had attention deficit disorder.

I'd had it as a member of a group. I sang with the Moonglows for two years, and that was enough.

Songs, for me, are notes from the heart.

I really love a lot of early Sixties R&B, rock n' roll, and I love performing songs that have that power and soulfulness.

I listen to old music, man.

Doo-wop was full of blues for me.

Well, it's hard not to love Hank Williams!

I use Wikipedia and eBay; I look for singles for my 1950s jukebox.