- God had to create disco music so that I could be born and be successful.
- [in 1999] Most people don't get called a queen. I appreciate the reference and that I've gotten to be part of people's lives. But now I have to make a new title for myself. That diva thing is getting a little used.
- [about her suicide attempt] It sorta snuck up on me, and I think it because I had my daughter, and during that period my marriage broke up, and I was alone, and I was staying up at night, and I would go out and work and then I would be getting 2 to 3 hours a sleep a day. It was scary, and so I couldn't deal [with] another minute of it, and I was on my way out the window, I was sticking my foot out, I was shifting my weight, and I got caught in a curtain and the maid opened the door, exactly that time. I was literally shifting my weight, and I was looking at my curtain, the chain rattled on the door and I looked after I saw the maid looking at me, and I thought, "Oh, my God!", It really kind of shook me, it woke me up and I'll let you in, and then I let her in, and I got on the phone, and I think I called somebody and said, "I need help", and thank God that lady came, because I'd be gone today.
- [on making a comeback upon recording a new album at almost 60 years of age] I was sitting at home, watching TV, eating potato chips, fast becoming a "Desperate Housewife", as I sing onstage, which is my onstage light, and I thought, "Is this going to be the rest of my life? Is this all there is?" I mean, I can't do this forever, I'll be this big and that wide, and I've got to find a day job. And so, at first, I thought I would go to designing school and study architecture or something, and then, all of a sudden, my light bulb went off on my head one day, and said, "You probably should go start recording again", and it happened to me in the beginning of my career, it was sexified, and it was difficult because I was fighting, not being that way, because it was not that accepted back then, and they were pushing me to be that way, and I kept going, "Why can't I just be who I am?" when it was a big struggle, and they kept pushing me more towards that, and I kept emptying my weight back, this way, and I think eventually, over the course of two or three years, I kind of put my foot down and said, "That's it, I'm not doing that anymore!". It's really hard being a diva these days, and that they have to learn to let me grow older and let me grow gracefully, because I don't plan on having 900 facelifts to please them.
- The minute that I got off the plane from Germany, with Susan Mineo, and we got in a limo. George [Giorgio Moroder] was getting the bags and got back, we sat in a limo and the doors closed. Susan Mineo and I--who at the time, was with my record company--looked at each other, and all of a sudden the driver reached over and turned on [what they thought was] an eight-track CD or whatever, only it was the radio. The radio was playing exactly that minute. All of a sudden, we heard the baseline, and we started screaming out loud, and from that moment on my life was just gone--it was no more. The old me was departed and the new me was on the rise.
- [on her popularity as a disco singer] I think, no question, when you're a singer and you're looking to become so successful, it's the moments of success, singing the Oscar-winning song and having that moment, winning Grammies and all that, but after you get those things, you're sorta sitting there in the room and you're thinking, "OK, what next?". When actors say they got the Oscar and then they didn't get [a] job for five years . . . it feels like internally, and it's like, "Oh, OK, is that all there is?" and so I think you just have to keep setting new goals for yourself. For me, after I had success on that level, my next goals were personal, they were my family, go on it's time now, "You've done this, you've proven this, let's get on with your real-life".
- Whenever success comes it is a stranger. When it knocks, it is something you hope for, but the form it takes on when it comes, and sometimes the moment it comes in, is so odd and so obscure.
- [speaking in 1980] I believe that every good singer is an actress - or an actor. The ability to project an image of what they are singing is part of what the creativity is about... What I try to do is take the style of the song and make the voice to fit the song. In other words some people have a particular distinct style - they can't alter their style for a piece of work. They would give up a song because they would say 'that song is more for so and so'. I say 'I will alter my voice for the song' as opposed to altering the song for my voice.
- [speaking in 1980] Whatever sells becomes commercial. If it doesn't sell people say 'well they're not really commercial...' which doesn't mean anything; it may not be the time for that particular element. What I feel is that if people communicate in a way that is called music and that people can understand that and it becomes a form, whatever they want to call it, whether they call it rock n roll, disco or jazz or whatever. It is just the media's *our* way of speaking to everyday people and that we as artists should never be categorized on that level.
- [speaking in 1980] I never considered myself a disco artist in the first place. I have never recorded a song with the word 'disco' in it in my life... I have never recorded a disco song as far as I am concerned. I have recorded music from whichever elements there are. If Americans choose to categorize it as disco music, I categorize it as music; music is my profession. I can sing many styles. If I am a painter I will paint many different colors. I don't think anyone would call me a blue painter if I painted a lot with blue. I think categorizing musicians is false. It's wrong and a detriment to our music. I love music and I love music to dance to. Fifteen years ago they were doing music you could dance to but there was no such thing as disco music. All of a sudden everyone who makes a song you can dance to becomes a disco artist in this period. Y'know, it's a sign of the times; I don't think it really has anything to do with music.
- [speaking in 1987] I'm very private. I don't like being in the public. When I'm performing and stuff that's fine. but I really just prefer to be left alone... If somebody wants to say something to me, say hi and goodbye, but don't make me stand and talk for six hours. Y'know, I have a whole pile of things to do. So my private time is very precious... I think that is the balance to giving so much all of the time.
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