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" When Sinatra said, 'For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer I've ever heard,' it changed my career completely. He was my best friend, and I was his best friend... but I was never part of the Rat Pack. "

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" It's a great thing that the United States has given the rest of the world - no other country has given such great popular music to the Far East and Europe. When I play those great countries, a lot of times, the audience starts singing the songs with me. They know them. They love them. "

Tony Bennett

Great

World

Singing

" More than anybody else I'd like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform. "

Tony Bennett

Than

" I was possessed with a wonderful example of my Italian American family. They would come over and join us every Sunday, all my aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces, and I would sing for them. "

Tony Bennett

Sunday

American

" I had the greatest time of my life in England for a couple of years, and Robert Farnon made some of the best music I've ever been around. "

" Every day feels like just starting out because I still have so much more to learn. "

Tony Bennett

Every Day

Learn

" If music sounds dated, it means it wasn't very good in the first place. "

" I think one of the reasons I'm popular again is because I'm wearing a tie. You have to be different. "

" I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was. "

" I want to try to prove that at 100, I could sing as well as I was singing when I was 45 or 43. "

" My whole premise has been, right from the beginning, that it would take me a lifetime to learn to explain myself as an artist. As you grow older, you learn what to do and what to leave out. You kind of simplify your work and get the same thing done with fewer strokes. It's pretty interesting to me. "

Tony Bennett

Work

Myself

" To me, life is a gift, and it's a blessing to just be alive. And each person should learn what a gift it is to be alive no matter how tough things get. "

Tony Bennett

Gift

Tough

" I've never worked a day in my life. "

" Lady Gaga is the Picasso of the entertainment world. She's very intelligent. "

" I have grown to appreciate the power of believing in myself and of always having faith in myself. I rarely look back; instead, I always look forward. There is so much of life that we miss when we wallow in regret. "

" It sounds so simple, but if you just be yourself, you're different than anyone else. "

" As a young boy, I did a lot of foolish things. I made a lot of mistakes. And you live and learn. "

" Presley is country music, white music. Jazz is black music - it was invented by the blacks in New Orleans. And I'm really a jazz singer. I was impressed with Elvis - he was the handsomest guy I ever met in my life, and a very nice person, too. But the music doesn't impress me. "

Tony Bennett

Life

My Life

" I'd like to prove that if you take care of yourself, you can actually not regret the fact that you've become an old-timer, but you can just still improve and actually get better. "

" I study nature, and I realize that no matter how much you learn, you can't top nature. "

" I don't sing operatically, and I sing very intimately, but I still do the scales, and I think in terms of intonation and making sure that I'm hitting the notes right on the head... and having it appear quite effortless. "

" Gaga is a gorgeous singer, and when she sings a great ballad, I get goose bumps. "

" Performers should really go to the best schools, like Lady Gaga, you know, she went to NYU and had great teachers... It's best to really study your technique as much as you possibly can so you can have a long career instead of a quick one that's a failure. "

" I still insist that American performers are the best performers in the world. "

" I've been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I've been sold out all over the world. "

" I'll call it a day when I die. It's a wonderful occupation for me. I've never worked a day in my life. "

" I was taught never to compromise: to never sing a cheap song. I never look down at the audience and think that they are ignorant or think that I'm more intelligent than they are. To think otherwise is totally incorrect and runs contrary to everything I was raised to believe. "

" I get up, and boy, I can't wait to paint and study music and keep learning. I just love it. "

" I'll never retire. "

Tony Bennett

Retire

Never

" I grew up in an era where the record companies just sold records to everybody, and the whole family bought songs. Today, record companies are failing because they are putting their accent just on the young, and I think that's rather silly. "

Tony Bennett

Today

Young

" I still get a little nervous before performing. You don't want to forget a lyric; you don't want to make a mistake. I still get butterflies. You can try to judge an audience, but you can only really judge things by the applause. "