As a singer, the biggest joy I have are the arrangements.
Mel Torme

As Buddy Rich, for instance, broke into the business at the age of three, I think it was, on drums, so indeed did I break into the business at the age of four as a singer.
Mel Torme

As regards my feelings about drummers - there's Buddy Rich, and then there's everybody else.
Mel Torme

Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio.
Mel Torme

Because obviously the whole purpose of putting records out is purely and simply to make money.
Mel Torme

Buddy Rich is one of a kind; he's a genius, and that's all there is to it.
Mel Torme

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.
Mel Torme

How many radio shows I did is lost to memory now; it's in the hundreds - maybe even close to being in the thousands - for the span of years from the time I was eight till I was about fifteen.
Mel Torme

I didn't really have an act per se - a theatrical performance, as opposed to just: here I am, folks, and you're all supposed to be dead quiet while I sing eight or nine songs, then get off the stage.
Mel Torme

I got into radio when I was eight, and I was one of the busiest child dramatic actors in America.
Mel Torme


I hadn't been a recording artist all that long when albums came on the scene, and I was one of the first singers to point the way to how varied an album's contents could be.
Mel Torme

I want to sing for the broadest possible audience.
Mel Torme

I was a singer professionally when I was four years old, and I did not really begin to play any instrument - the first one, of course, was drums - till I was about nine years old.
Mel Torme

I would be a liar if I said it wouldn't be lovely and soothing - that's the word - to have a hit single or a hit album.
Mel Torme

It may sound a bit like an army barracks, but the truth of the matter is: there must be some time laid aside for arranging, time for working on either a book or an article - I've written two articles in the last four months for the New York Times book review section.
Mel Torme

My initial career, really, as a baby, was as a singer.
Mel Torme

Right now, my career is in three directions: as a performer, as an arranger, as an author - and I don't give any one of them true precedent, or true top marks, as opposed to the other two.
Mel Torme

See, I never wrote arrangements for the band for Judy Garland; I did strictly special material, special lyrics, put together all of her medleys.
Mel Torme

So I'm sorry, I'm going to continue to talk to the people, because I do believe that if they get to know you and what you are as a human being, they can more appreciate what you are as a performer.
Mel Torme

Talking money is crass; so I'm not going to tell you what I made last year.
Mel Torme