George Michael Quotes

You do a little more of a record album these days. See I just wanted to put a few songs in Beaches and we did very well. The album of Beaches went gold.

[The producer told me:] "We can try one more record, and we'll see how that one does." Those records never did anything. My music never got mentioned. My color got mentioned.

The record business has always mystified me. Sometimes there are reasons why things sell or don't sell that can't be understood by mere mortals.

So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits.

Being a recording artist, selling music, selling concerts out, having a reality show, starting film; it's great, it's beautiful.

The success of this album is very much in question. Who knows where it's going to go? My being a Spice Girl is no guarantee of anything, although I hope it'll benefit the sales.

To remain relevant though, I think making great records is the key.

At the end of the day, you sign a record deal and you understand where it could go if you had the right song.

You look at what One Direction has done and just say, 'That is just lucky;' it is not. It is happening because they are talented boys, good looking lads; and yes, their songs might not be the typical songs that lots of radios want to play, but they are great songs, pop records, that are massive across the world selling in huge numbers.

When you have a very hot single there is no reason why it can't drive album sales. People fall off and come back on. I'm looking forward to coming back on with a vengeance.

MTV made a huge impact. Heavy rotation took you from selling 1m albums to 20m albums, and that meant a lot of dough.

My real life helped me sell a lot of records.

When you look at the Lady Gagas of the world, or the Jay-Zs, or the Black Eyed Peas, these are people who have one album release and it's a worldwide one.

The last album, 'Falling Faster Than You Can Run.' I was really proud of, but then I didn't actually know whether it was going to come out on any label at all. So I didn't know if anyone was going to hear it. Then of course we ended up doing another EP after that called 'Closer.'

If there is a good musical reason, I think it might draw more attention and sell, though it is not guaranteed. To make a record without a musical reason, you have to either be a pop star who sells automatically or just be lucky.

Not many artists or bands go platinum every year, from what people have told me, so it's an honor to have so many fans. A million people, that's a lot of people! Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake sell a few million, and so hopefully I'll make my way up to that.

My most successful album happened back in the mid-'90s, pre-Internet times, with 'Songs For A Blue Guitar.' We were supported by Island Records; we toured a lot. Songs were licensed to TV commercials and movies.

We never could have foreseen the success of 'Babel.' It's not like banjo records were soaring up the charts, you know.

While we were touring for 'Vacation,' we weren't aware that the record wasn't doing well. It was a good tour, but the album didn't go over with critics.

I put 'Ghost' online hoping to make a couple hundred bucks, but then the next day, I took meetings with five different record companies.

I had a lot of songs which, I felt, if they come in an album, they can become bigger hits than in films.

My first break was in my home country with some pop songs that became hits, writing for French singers Christophe & Francoise Hardy, which became hits.

The good thing about having a hit record is you don't need too many people. Because now your record is on fire, and I already have a great team around me, so why run to the labels?

As a composer, it is a great thrill for me to have an album in the top 15 of the pop charts.

The second we were done on 'The Sing-Off,' we were like, 'All right, now we're competing with Rihanna and Taylor Swift.' We've always set the bar high. We want a hit.