Ben E. King Quotes

I think, back in the day, when I was first starting to make music, all I wanted to do was to get a record deal.

My goal in life has been to be a songsmith, not a pop person.

I can take a three-year-old and make a hit record.

I'd had it as a member of a group. I sang with the Moonglows for two years, and that was enough.

I'm involved in a lot of different things, like producing, starting a label and writing songs. But still my biggest release, and the easiest and most fun thing for me to do in my life, is to be in New Found Glory, go on stage and play these songs.

I really wanted a No. 1 single from my first album, but I would not do anything different. It was real and honest and I didn't pretend anything.

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

I achieved my one and only dream, which was to debut as a singer.

I'm glad 'Honest' came out right after 'Karate Chop,' because I don't want to be seen as a one-hit wonder.

I constantly tour every year, around the clock. That's how I make my living, and I do very well. Because I have classic songs.

I have always wanted to become a musician and a singer.

I want to put out as many albums as I can before I die.

Piper took me one step further in that it got my first real recording contract but the band just didn't quite mature. It didn't break things open, but it got me to the door.

All I ever wanted to do was write songs, and I just dreamed of putting out an album and having a single that maybe did alright.

People don't necessarily expect singles from me. They expect full bodies of work.

I don't think I wrote my first song until I was 25. And then everything I wrote ended up becoming my first album. I put my music online, and from that, things just happened.

I've been doing music for the longest time.

Last year I was 16, it was my first round of releasing music. Since then I've been working more on having an identity as an artist and really figuring out what it is that I want to talk about and how I want to sound.

You can always spot the professionals. Taylor Swift, she knows what she's doing.

I thought I was just going to be a songwriter for other people! And now I get to put out my own music, which is amazing.

I want to literally quit drag and go live in the woods somewhere and write music for my favorite female singers, like Miley Cyrus or Kacey Musgraves. I would love to be able to write music for them and hear these women I admire sing my songs. That would be like doing drag without having to get into drag myself.

Back when I first started with Scandal, I felt like I had to carry a lot of the weight because it was up to me to sell those songs.

Back in the day it was like, I got a great record from a great producer and writer and it's a hit single, so let's sing it. But it's different when you're really living out your lyrics.

I've always invested in myself, whether it was marketing or putting an album together and paying for radio. Spending eight months to a year working on one single to try to get it where you know it's a hit and you can take it into the top 20.

I'm a huge closet Mariah Carey fan - she's got one of the best voices probably ever.