Daya Quotes

Things began to pick up for me record-wise when in 1971 I wrote 'She's a Lady' for Tom Jones.

My first significant break was when I was 15, going on 16, and my cousin Courtney 'Bear' Sills told me you can make a career out of writing songs. He was the one who put me in with 112. The first song I did with 112 was 'We Can Do It Anywhere.'

You get a letter from her agency embracing you into the family that says, 'It is our goal now to help you achieve your dream of being a songwriter, in John's memory.'

I didn't want to be a solo Westlife - covers and ballads - and the reason I signed with Capitol Records was because they wanted me to write songs myself. It was pretty scary, but they put me in a studio in Nashville with some new songwriters, and the results were pretty good.

I was signed to a record label at the same time as my friend Elliot Murphy, who makes great records to this day.

After two years in the songwriting world, I wrote 'All About That Bass.' L.A. Reid heard it and signed me as an artist.

Mike Campbell and Don Henley and I wrote 'The Heart of the Matter,' which was a huge hit for Don.

I was 17, still in school, and my manager saw me in school, and then we hooked up, and after that, I went straight into making music.

I started writing songs in high school. And eventually, I got some songs recorded by some major artists, mostly because I was out there performing, and I was working in coffee houses and lounges, and people came to see me and hear my material.

In my music career, I never was interested in working and writing and creating songs based on what kind of rewards I could receive in return - a hit song, per se, is what most contemporary artists have to deal with when they deal with a label.

I wanted to become a better songwriter, so it seemed like a no-brainer to move to Nashville, where some of the best writers in the world live.

I put a song on Soundcloud, and Annie Mac made it record of the week, and a month later, I signed my record deal.

I wanted to be part of pop culture, so I started songwriting, and I got signed to my first record deal.

Songwriter friends will be like, 'Oh my God, when are you going to put out 'Love Triangle?'' It's just been that song for me that really helped me get a lot of writing sessions and helped jump-start my writing career.

We even have a music career. Our song 'Hold On,' charted on Billboard. I mean, we don't have aspirations to tour with Justin Bieber but we have a lot of different interests and talents.

I wrote songs with the guys from Air Supply for their record... So I was just writing songs.

Most of the people I know in bands, all they are concerned about is getting to do the next record.

All I want to do is sing on other people's records.

I got about 6037 songs I wrote myself and I'm trying to get them on the market and I just wish people could hear them and stuff but they'll do pretty good.

All of them had so much to offer us as far as, you know, knowledge in the music industry, and especially Randy and Paula because, you know, they've been artists.

There's artists that I'm working with on a new label of mine. Foxy Nova and Supa Nova.

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

Some artists will tell you that's all they want to do is write their own music, and that's great, but George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, they didn't write everything they recorded, and they've had major, major careers. I think it's all about the best song.

We call 'Ain't No Mountain' the golden egg that landed us at Motown.

I was kicked off a record label and didn't get picked up again. It was devastating at first because I thought, 'Oh my God. My career is over. What's gonna happen? What am I going to do?' Once I got that I could have a career, a very good career, without having a hit record, then I changed.