Music Producers From The United States

"There's a poem in I Am Becoming ["Invoke Mercy Extraordinary"] - it's about Marvin Gaye because I love his music and I think there was an extraordinary pull in him between the flesh and the spirit. These two things operated in him very strongly. He has a record called 'What's Going On' which is a most loving piece of work - the concern for humanity, the earth and ecology - it was such an incredibly beautiful piece; it was levitating; it was going to incredible heights. I think if he had continued in that direction he would have ended monastery or on a hill by himself. But always that pull between the flesh and the spirit, that fight."

"My baby ohhh Come take control, just grab a hold Of my body and mind; soon we'll be making it Honey, oh we're feeling fine You're my medicine. Open up and let me in. Darling, you're so great; I can't wait for you to operate."

"Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, let's make love tonight Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 'cos you do it right."

"Ooh, baby let's get down tonight Baby I'm hot just like an oven I need some lovin' And baby, I can't hold it much longer It's getting stronger and stronger And when I get that feeling I want Sexual Healing. Sexual Healing, baby Makes me feel so fine Helps to relieve my mind. Sexual Healing baby, is good for me Sexual Healing is something that's good for me."

"Distant lover, ooo, sugar How can you treat my heart so mean and cruel? Didn't you know, sugar, that I dream Of what I spent with you? I treasure it like it was a precious jewel, oh baby. Lord have mercy!"

"Ooo remember, baby, how you made me feel just like a king? Ah, I've been waiting I'm ready for you to start doin' the things So I'll know you're mine. You're so fine, so petite, oh candy sweet. Ah, I've been waiting. Come here, baby, get to this."

"Won't you rather make love, children As opposed to war, like you know you should?"

"Mariah Carey has also covered it... and about bloody time! It took 21 years for someone to do a proper cover of one of our songs."

"We hit it off real well. Every time we get together she is open and she really trusts me. The ingredients are good and there is a chemistry there that you can hear through the music. I can't give her advice on her pop stuff but she will seek it for dance stuff. You know she rarely ever works with a producer. She's a writer and producer in the Lauryn Hill category, she doesn't come into the studio with a superstar attitude, the people around her may give you that impression, but we have a really good relationship."

"She's brilliant in the studio; I don't think I've heard anyone talk so knowledgeably about the music industry like her. She's very intelligent and very funny - it was a great honour to work with her"

"Mariah was really nice to work with. You hear lots of rumours about Mariah, that she's very egotistical and other bad stories but I have to say that they're untrue. We had a lot of fun with Mariah and we found her a very down to earth person."

"I’d heard a lot of good and bad things about [Mariah] and was pleasantly surprised by her professionalism and her niceness. She’s a lovely lady and a really good actress as well."

"My first impression of Mariah was that she was an incredible singer, very funny (she's always cracking jokes) and just a very nice person to be around.... after 5 years I still feel the same way. I really enjoy being a part of her team. Normally when I work with a new artist I'm not necessarily a "fan", but there's no question Mariah is a truly great singer, so in this case, yes I was (and am) a fan."

"Her friendship is very important to me. And it has provided me with some of my fondest memories and experiences of being in the music industry. It's just great that she is such a down to earth person who just happens to be a little more famous than most of my other friends."

"I remember the moment I first heard Vision of Love. Then I saw this white girl with a black voice on television, and everything about her bowled me over. You could relate to her and yet she was a magical icon, and throughout my school days all I dreamed of was being like Mariah Carey. She sang with a gospel choir around her, which was always my dream. I just wanted to be her."

"My theory is that Mariah Carey can sing anything. You hear that expression, 'She can sing the phone book’. If you can really sing, you should be able to sing anything. That's [what] the whole competition [is about]."

"Sorry, but when you sing songs that the great Mariah Carey sings, you run the hugest risk of being compared to icons. And right now, there's no one hotter than Mariah Carey and we're constantly reminded of how brilliant her voice is. It's a big, big, huge risk to take on a song like that."

"I love her, she's such a nice person! I had an opportunity to meet her for the first time at the Z100 concert. Randy [Jackson] was like 'Mariah's here, would you like to meet her?' I said no, I don't wanna meet her! I'm gonna be an idiot in front of her. In my mind, I was saying, 'I'm gonna throw up, I'm gonna throw up!' but the words came out of my mouth. Mariah was laughing at me. It so was funny!"

"Mariah Carey... she is a huge influence on me. I mean, she's amazing."

"I discovered Mariah in my room one day listening to the radio, and as soon as 'Vision of Love' came on, I ran downstairs going, ‘Mommy, mommy - I just found the greatest person in the world! I just heard the greatest new voice!'."

"When I discovered Mariah Carey and "Vision of Love," that was a breath of fresh air. And I adored her from that moment on and idolized her. It's really amazing that in articles I've been compared to her."

"After I first heard "Vision [of Love]" (Carey's debut single) I first started doing runs [singing harmonic variations on scales]"

"She has the voice of an angel."

"When others would have quit, overcome by the negativity, she soldiered on - a phoenix rising from the ashes."

"No one would have believed that Mariah Carey could come full circle. Except Mariah."

"Mariah has an amazing gift from God that has no color, no boundaries and no limitations. You hear the passion and the honesty within her music"

"I love Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey's music saved little ghetto children's lives. Songs like "Vision of Love" gave us hope and we would sing those songs and try to hit every note like Mariah -- which we can't. I don't think she knows what a big part she plays in Mary J. Blige's life. And then to meet her….she's such a beautiful person that you can't do anything but defend her when [the media] starts acting stupid on her. She doesn't deserve that."

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor, starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean, I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."

"Why you so obsessed with me? Boy I wanna know. Lying that you're sexing me when everybody knows"

"They can say anything they want to say Try to bring me down But I won't face the ground"

"This is for my peoples who just lost somebody, your best friend, your baby, your man or your lady, put your hand way up high, we will never say bye, mamas, daddies, sisters, brothers, friends and cousins, this is for my peoples who lost their grandmothers, lift your head to the sky, cause we will never say bye."

"For the record, "You'll Always Be a Part Of Me" no matter what you do, For the record, can't nobody say I didn't give "My All" to you, For the record, I told you "Underneath The Stars" that you "Belong" to me, For the record, It's obvious that we just "Can't Let Go" of us "Honey"."

"But instead I kept my tears inside, cause I knew if I, started I'd keep crying for the rest of my life with you, I finally built up the strength to walk away, don't regret it, but I still live with the side effects."

"She'll never be MC."

"By the time you get this message It's gonna be too late. So don't bother paging me cause I'll be on my way. You're gonna miss me baby, hate to say I told you so."

"See, I'm looking for a man that'll rub me slow, make me sing real high when he goes down low."

"Father, thanks for reaching out and lovingly, saying that you've always been proud of me, I needed to feel that so desperately, you're always alive inside of me."

"Please be at peace father, I'm at peace with you, bitterness isn't worth clinging to, after all the anguish we've all been through."

"Who's gonna love you when it all falls down? Who's gonna love you when your bankroll runs out? Who's gonna care when the novelty's over? When the star of the show isn't you anymore. Nobody cares when the tears of a clown fall down (I guess your mama never told you what goes around comes back around)."

"I can make it through the rain, I can stand up once again, on my own, and I know, that I’m strong enough to mend, and every time I feel afraid I hold tighter to my faith, and I live one more day and I make it through the rain."

"So many I considered, closest to me, turned on a dime and sold me out dutifully, although that knife was chipping away at me, they turned their eyes away and went home to sleep."

"Standing alone, eager to just believe, it's good enough to be what you really are, but in your heart, uncertainty forever lies, and you'll always be, somewhere on the outside."

"When you love someone so deeply they become your life, it's easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside, blindly I imagined I could keep you under glass, now I understand to hold you I must open my hands, and watch you rise."

"It seems as though I've always been, somebody outside looking in, well, here I am for all of them to bleed, but they can't take my heart from me, and they can't bring me to my knees, they'll never know the real me."

"You look at me and see the girl, who lives inside the golden world, but don't believe, that's all there is to see, you'll never know the real me."

"Suffered from alienation, carried the weight on my own, had to be so strong, so I believed, and now I know I've succeeded, in finding the place I conceived."

"That's something the kids should know about. Reading is a gateway to witchcraft and lesbianism."

"Alanis Morissette and I actually used to date. I especially liked it when we went to the movies."

"We only torture the folks we don't like You're probably gonna be okay."

"Never had a date That you couldn't inflate"