Leo Sayer Quotes

Yes; my brother Bobby used to distribute records at King Records. I had a job there, too, packing records up and shipping them off. But I always wanted to play sessions at Stax, so I figured out a way to do it.

I wanted to produce Nancy LaMott's albums, so I created my own record company.

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

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

I'd done recordings, little demos, since I was in college, which I used to get gigs. But I never thought I'd have a record label.

The Shades never recorded anything, Little Daddy and the Bachelors recorded a couple of records, ya.

I knew that it was my only shot to be taken seriously in the recording industry, because it's fast and broad.

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

I am a singer first and foremost. I was lucky enough to have a manager, when I was 15, who knew the heads of a lot of record labels at the time.

A lot of people thought my career was over. If you're not releasing records, then something must be wrong. Either the record company doesn't like your music, or you've been dropped. It has to something negative. It's not like you wanted to take a break, or want some balance, or smell the roses.

It was almost two years after I left Capital that I put out the first one on Chrysalis and that was really instructive because it was no better in particular than any other record I'd done.

There's the famous thing that the A&R man from the record company is supposed to do: He's supposed to come into the studio and listen to the songs you've been recording and then say, 'Guys, I don't hear any singles.' And then everybody falls into a terrible depression because you have to write one.

Actually, I have another record I made with them in 1976, but I've had such a bad experience with record companies, because I keep my head so much in music and not in business.

I've never had a relationship with a record executive. I always went to the record company by someone that liked my playing. Then they would get fired, and I'd be left with the record company. And then - because they got fired - the record company wouldn't do anything for me.

When I came into the music, I was forced to be a CEO. I was forced to be an entrepreneur; I was forced to... because I was looking for a deal. I didn't have this grand scheme of starting a record company and then morphing into a clothing empire.

I feel very lucky to get to fly the flag of RCA Records and Sony Music.

You can't deny RCA's past and its history. I was also on Capitol Records, so I have that past history.

I did my first album with my own record label.

In the mid-1970s, I even decided to make my own country album. I put the idea to my record company, thinking we'd just go into the studio in the U.K. and make a novelty album. But instead, they suggested I go to Nashville. I was flabbergasted. I hadn't expected that at all.

People thought we were crazy for starting a record company. They really thought I was shooting myself in the foot.

Success came to me in my late 20s. I started touring when I was a teenager, so I had already seen the good, the bad, and the ugly side of the music business. Plus, setting up my own record company taught me a lot.

My number one goal is to take over the music business and run a really great record company.

I used to be a Def Jam artist. I was - I survived Def Jam.

I've been with Def Jam Records for five years and they gave me my first recording contract so for that I'm forever grateful.

I always knew I wanted to do music, but it took me a long time to figure out how to exactly do that. With my first record deal, everything kinda fell apart. I wasn't ready for it, I didn't know how to handle the business side at all. I thought as soon as I got a record deal, everything would fall into place and I wouldn't have to really do any work anymore. I could just make music, and be successful. Well that was not the case and everything fell apart for a period of time.