John Varvatos Quotes

You see Michelangelo and Picasso and you read literature. I had some innate inchoate yearning for that, but I never really saw where I would fit in. That's called art. And then something happened to pop music, which is that it became art under the hand of the Beatles, the Stones, and Bob Dylan and some other people.

I've got rock 'n' roll in my blood.

I know when somebody's heard my music. I can hear it in their music.

Fashion is about good energy. It's about feelings. That's what I have to give the people, good energy and good feelings.

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

Everything was a song. Every conversation, every personal hurt, every observance of people in stress, happiness and love... if you could feel it, I could feel it. And I could write a song about it.

Life is a lot more interesting if you are interested in the people and the places around you. So, illuminate your little patch of ground, the people that you know, the things that you want to commemorate. Light them up with your art, with your music, with your writing, with whatever it is that you do.

My songs tend to be about love. It drives some of the greatest songs. I'm looking forward to seeing what people make of my writing.

For me, music and life are all about style.

One thing that is exciting about fashion is the surprise element. People don't know what they want. They just know when they see it.

People have told me that other artists have been influenced by my music, and it's flattering. It's a wonderful thing.

I have no shame in making music that maybe, if you listen to it long enough, you'll realize you've heard this or that part of it before. I'm still very excited by an amazingly written song, so that's really the thing that I work on when I make records with people.

I loved everything that went with rock n' roll. I loved being at the heart of such creativity and being young in such a stimulating and exciting era.

I think people need to see Prince live to really understand how remarkable he is. He has always been inspiring because he is never afraid to break rules or barriers or invent something new - and if you love fashion, then you need to be able to do that.

Composers shouldn't think too much - it interferes with their plagiarism.

The great thing about fashion is that it always looks forward.

I think the most important thing about music is the sense of escape.

When I sing I have a lot of visions. Like what's happening now in my life.

I don't get my inspiration from a specific source. It's more like if you listen to a good tune, it gives me inspiration to write a better tune.

I guess for me what is more significant than success is the nature of each of the songs and of the words.

I felt Michael Jackson was inspired a little bit more from the elegance of a Fred Astaire. Michael loved Sammy Davis, Jr. and James Brown and Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. But he wasn't any of those people. To be inspired is one thing, but he made it all his own.

Writing that flirts with incoherence can just as readily flounder as writing characterized by simplicity and composure. There is no reliable formula for originality, and strategies that are distinguished as innovative in their first incarnation can quickly become stale in the hands of lesser artists.

I feel that people really feel they've got a part of me when they listen to my albums and the themes just show themselves.

When one sings, one does not speak about the problems of the every day. One speaks about the things which inspire us, which helped us.

I'm pretty obsessed with Sara Bareilles. She is so talented, and I feel like I would learn so much from her.