Anne Murray

I don't sing as well as I used to. Nor does anyone else in their 60s.

That's the God's truth - I've forgotten that I was famous. I guess it's laughable.

We didn't have the Grand Ole Opry or country radio stations in Nova Scotia when I was growing up.

A good singer can sing anything.

I loved the Everly Brothers better than anybody.

I knew it was time to pack it in. I was in my 60s... I could still sing but I didn't want to get to that point where people feel sorry for me.

My kids suffered because I wasn't home enough.

I didn't have a life. Basically, for 40 years it was my work and my nose was to the grindstone the whole time.

If I can still sing and still perform to my satisfaction, I don't mind touring.

I am a rabid Maple Leaf fan.

Our television set was in the bedroom. I can picture my mother fast asleep, exhausted from driving my brothers around. I can picture the Maple Leafs playing the Canadiens. One or the other would always be on the CBC on Saturday night.

None of the boys from my town made it in the N.H.L.

Baseball was popular in the summer, but hockey was big most of the time. With five brothers, you never escaped it. We had an indoor rink in our town, and all the boys would play on it right through high school.

I've always had a quiet career.

I was going to become a teacher.

As far as k. d. lang is concerned, she grew up devouring my music. She sent me a song when she was 8 years old, and she says I never wrote back.

TV ads let people know you're still around. Not only do they sell albums, they give you a high profile. They let people know you're out there and working.

Most artists over 40 or 50 don't get played on the radio. It's a young people's game. I was ready for that.

I find that touring keeps your voice in great shape.

'That's Not The Way It's Supposed To Be' was a good video, but it didn't do anything.

There's no formula for choosing songs. I've beeen lucky over the years. You just hear it and you do it.

There's nothing I hate more than having to cancel shows. In 36 years of performing, I think I've only canceled six times.

I've been playing Sunrise for years. I love it there. It's so loosey-goosey. I was up at the Kravis Center and it was, like, 'Oh my God!' All the minkdraggers, you know?

People want new faces. And I don't blame them. It's just getting difficult for us oldsters to get anyone to take notice.

I've always had good songs, it's the great songs that are difficult to find.

Strings have been a part of my career and my albums since the very first day. 'Snowbird' had beautiful strings.

There are a lot of middle of the road artists of the '70s, who aren't being played anyplace. I think it's unfortunate in a way, because it stifles you sort of, you don't get to as many people but I've had a long and wonderful career, I have no complaints.

I'm a little more interested in smelling the roses, playing more golf and tennis and more cross-country skiiing and doing stuff with my kids.

I learned all I have to do is sing the best music I know how and put on the best show I know how and just relax with it and people enjoy it.

I've never found it any tougher being a woman than a man, but I've always been the boss.

I worked all the time and when I say that, I mean I would work for three weeks, come home for a month, and work again, but it would have been nice to take long chunks of time off.

Nobody can have a career that lasts forever on radio.

There was a time when using TV to sell albums was frowned upon.

I used to sing all the time. But I couldn't imagine getting paid for it.

I'm originally from Nova Scotia.

The first hit record is easy compared to the second one. You've got to have two for momentum. If you have three, you're pretty much made. But one isn't enough.

When you play in smaller places with a smaller symphony, sometimes there's a difference in quality. Sometimes it's murderous. Sometimes it's real torture. Other times, you get a wonderful surprise. But there's never a dull moment.

I was a real rock 'n' roll fan.

I was at home, pregnant, and everybody was telling me, 'You're on a roll, don't have another baby, wait a while.' Looking back, I realize my career was peaking when I was having babies, for God's sake!

The first time I remember going to Nashville was in 1971 back when 'Snowbird' was a hit and I performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

I had to sing 'Snowbird' a lot. But I never tired of it, ever.

Retirement isn't what it used to be. It used to be you retired and you disappeared off the face of the Earth. Now you have social media. I keep in touch with all my fans. It's great.

I say 'no' a lot. And if I knew how easy it was to say no, I would have started saying it earlier.

You have to understand that I never thought I would have a career in music. That kind of thing didn't happen. Not for women, not in Canada, not in the 1960s. It was something I did for fun.

I think people who don't go away to university are missing out on one of the great life experiences. You meet people from so many different places and it's the shared life experience that helps you grow.

All I ever did was the songs I wanted to sing, in the way I wanted to sing them, and when people went crazy about them, it totally surprised me.

What's the first thing I remember about the University of New Brunswick? That's easy. The year before I had gone to Mount St. Vincent in Halifax, which was an all girls' school. That didn't really work out for me. But at UNB, there were six or seven men for every woman, which suited me just fine.

When I was growing up everybody I knew could sing. I had no choice. I had to sing.

That worried me early on in my career - that I would change. If I went to New York or Los Angeles that I would become somebody I wouldn't like. That person that gets a big head and starts thinking they're more special than anyone else. I never wanted to be that person.

When my son was in his teens, he was a really fine drummer. He was asked in an interview if he would consider going into the business. And he said, 'Why would I ever go into the business that took my mother from me?'