Ruben Studdard Quotes

I don't ever want to think my time is up as a performer. I have been afforded the opportunity to sell 150 million albums, to travel to places I never thought I would go. I'm going to keep on performing. I hope it never ends.

All I wanted was to be big, to be in show business and to travel... and that's what I've been doing all my life.

Before I was on 'Idol,' I just sat at home and played video games all day long. Now I get to travel and work towards my dream. It's the best feeling ever.

Having my first number one single and being able to travel to places I've never been before has been amazing. The tour was also fantastic. There are so many things which I've experienced this year which I never even dreamed of.

And they just saw me on that and - from the time I was 11 until I was 12, I guess. And then when I had just turned 13, they asked me if I wanted to tour with Johnny Cash back East.

Being a rock n' roll star ain't a part-time gig.

I've been really fortunate that my concert career has taken off hugely. I can make a living. I enjoy performing in front of a live audience, and I can do something different every time. Sometimes I'm with a quartet, sometimes I'm solo, sometimes with a symphony, and I get to go to different cities and meet different people.

We were up for a Grammy, we sold millions of records and we toured the world I don't know how many times. It was insane.

When my father was, you know, a very big artist in the 1970s and then later up through the '80s. And then I began playing guitar with him in the road in the late '80s until he retired in 1997. So I traveled the world with them for years, you know, and all around the world and got to meet some great people.

If I could go back, I think I would be a rock star instead of an actor, man.

So I'm in my 51st year of playin' mostly nightclubs. I do some concerts.

For three years, between 16 and 19, I was the opening-act-for-the-opening-act-for-the-opening-act, you know? And then I was on tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-a-Lot - legends - and went on to sell 160 million records. It still baffles me.

Growing up, my imagined life as a musician was something along the lines of me lounging in a Learjet en route to a swelling outdoor amphitheatre on a dazzling summer's eve.

I need to show the world that my final goal is to perform huge concerts like Madonna.

I didn't realize what an impact having a No. 1 single would have. It connects me with people of different ages, and I get to travel all over the world.

Growing up, I thought it would be great if I could do big theaters. Now we're doing arenas.

Every song I put on a record could be a single and I just pack my bags for it... and the minute it takes off, I'm not gonna be home for a while.

Playing in sold out arenas several nights a week is something I have never experience before. I want to experience that. I want to experience that in my first year and build on that.

I'd love to be a hit in Germany. I'm working on trying to get a gig as David Hasselhoff's opening act.

Certainly since then many people have taken a lot of those ideas and ridden them for years and years and made careers out of them. Part of that is willingness to do the kind of work that I wasn't willing to do. Get into a van and cover the country.

I think one of the great moments of my life was when I could write musician on my passport.

Joining another big time rock band was the last thing I was looking for, but as the tour went on, I really dug playing to a lot of people, the band sounded great, and just being out there again, got me over my depression and so I decided to hop on board.

There's a lot that goes into being Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. They have great songs, their show is great, they're very fit. When you look at somebody who takes care of themselves, takes care of their business, that's what every CEO would do.

For nearly eight decades, I've had the great fortune of playing thousands of roles before millions of people.

I have a great career, and no matter what I am doing, a big blockbuster movie... or my small documentary, David Letterman will call and say I would like you to sit on my couch.