Quotes from Michael McDonald

I've come to learn that music speaks for itself.

Frankly, I think it's flattering to be compared to someone like Michael Bolton, who I think is a phenomenal singer with a spectacular range.

I think every ounce of pain in just living always ends up being the best thing that happened to me. It's always a growth period. I learn at the speed of pain.

For me, a lot of my fondest memories of being in the music business were being in the studio with The Doobs and being part of that organization and being a part of that music.

I've always felt like the Forrest Gump of the music business. I've been fortunate to work with a lot of great people.

In one way or another, all my songs are about the necessity for trust.

What I particularly liked about Nineties hip hop was it had a certain reverence for the groove that I hadn't been hearing in a while.

I like to celebrate the holiday season - not so much in a religious way, per se, but in a unifying way.

I've always been an artist that has had a problem with genres, staying in the box, and being told what I had to be.

I felt a real kinship with Steve Bruner. He's one of those guys that is so prolific that he has a hard time keeping up with himself. I'm the opposite and move at a glacial place.

I'd say that Ray Charles is definitely the biggest influence on my singing. Also Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

I'd like to do something with Frank Ocean, you know, and I love working with Thundercat, and I'd love to do more with him.

When Kanye gets to a point where he can actually put a couple of notes together either vocally or two bars of valid music playing an instrument, then he might have a right to criticize somebody else.

There were certain Ray Charles albums and a couple of early Marvin Gaye records that I used to listen to with a vengeance. That's how you forge a style. It excites you, and you lean toward it almost unconsciously. I was also a Beatles fanatic, but I didn't emulate them the way I did the R&B artists.

I've been set up with a Twitter account, and I just never use it.

One of my all-time favorite Christmas songs, I have to admit, was the Chipmunks' 'Christmas Song.' I remember playing that song over and over.

I'm not the kind of artist who can just gear myself to a particular radio format without looking like a fashion victim.

Laziness can be virtuous in the right setting, I guess.

Like everyone else, I have a lot of things I'd like to do that I'll probably never get around to. But for the most part, I live day to day.

I suppose I hit my lowest point in the early to mid-80s, which is when things really spun out of control for me.

Most times, lyrics are the last thing I listen to, being a musician.