Solomon Burke Quotes

I've always had money because of my early success with Cream, so I tell young musicians to aim to write their own material, because owning the composition rights makes a very big difference.

The record company stay out of my way. Whenever the record is finished, they take it.

That's my favorite subject because it really levels the playing field for artists these days. You don't have to sell out to the record company. You don't have to get a five hundred thousand dollars, or whatever, and pay them back for the rest of your life to record a record.

I never had many problems to do my music and to give it to a record company. Rarely do they try to argue with me about my music, probably because it's still too far-out.

The people who are making money are the ones who are writing and singing their own songs.

Do not let any record company disturb your creative flow. You are not writing for the record company. You're writing for the public.

A lot of big whoever producers, they come with a song and they say, 'Sing this,' and I'm not that girl.

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'm pushing ahead on my own - you no longer need a large record company to make you a star.

I have these songs that I've been playing for so many years. They're so intimate and close to me. And these are songs that probably a major label would not be interested in - some of them, anyway - interested in putting on a record.

You don't need a record company to turn you into anything.

When you get to a point where you're not beholden to a record company, then it's up to you to say, 'OK, enough knob-turning. We're done.'

With my previous record deal, it'd be like, 'OK, so I have this track then, EMI - do you know any singers, maybe? Do you have any singers on your little label there?' And funnily enough, they didn't. But I prefer finding unknown singers myself anyway.

I just wanted to have my own dynasty. I wanted my own Cash Money or Roc-A-Fella. Outside of that, I also wanted my own media company.

At the end of the day, I earn a living by creating music and not sharing it with anyone because I am my own master. I know my worth.

I'm not interested in being the producer of somebody else's song.

I mean there are tons of reasons. Well first of all. I write my own record. I don't take other people's materials. And I have a job which is being Willa Ford on top of getting back in the studio and writing and recording.

I've had offers to sign a record deal, but the people I've talked to have wanted to package me and have me meet with songwriters who've written stuff for Whitney Houston, that sort of thing. That's not at all my style.

I left the entertainment industry part of my life behind in 1983, when we decided not to work with major record companies anymore.

I have been with the record company and Tommy was there doing records with other people.

I'm not a hustler. I don't pitch songs. I don't ask people to write with me. It's not what I do.

The whole industry evolves around a great song.

I certainly don't want to be a record label guy.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

When I first got my record deal, I was like, 'I just want to sing,' and I never put much thought into what really goes into a record. But as I got older, I developed a passion for writing.