Johnny Mercer started Capitol Records, and he brought in Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. He just let them sing whatever they wanted, and it became the best record company in America.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I always loved Sam Cooke, because he seemed very versatile. He sang gospel, soul, blues, pop music.
Sinatra was pretty astute - he used the best songwriters around, he used all the resources, he covered every song from the era basically.
Frank Sinatra was a great singer, but my favourite is Sammy Davis Jr. He had incredible versatility in his voice, often doing impressions of people. It's always going to be classic, and you'll never get bored listening.
I kept looking to do songs that were written years ago and would live or outlive all of us, and the one thing they had in common was Sinatra.
I grew up with the Highwaymen, which was Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Mom and Dad rode rodeo, so country music was always in the house and the car. They threw in some Dolly Parton, too.
Sinatra was the biggest influence on my life, my singing career. And rightly so. I mean he was the best singer ever.
There were a whole lot, I bought every blues record I could find, it wasn't just one or two people. My vocal influences were Ray Charles and Bobby Blue Bland.
I grew up in an era where the record companies just sold records to everybody, and the whole family bought songs.
I had the great opportunity to work with some of the greatest artists - the Beach Boys, the Temptations, the Four Tops. Otis Redding. Wilson Pickett. Stevie Wonder. So many great singers. And don't forget Clarence Carter!
I was a big music fan, but I never bought a bunch of records or was very educated, I guess, on who was who or what was what.
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