Brian McKnight

I keep these songs in my head until I get behind the microphone. I never spend more than 30 or 40 minutes singing the vocal or it will sound mechanical. There are always mistakes, but it’s about feeling more than being perfect.

I didn’t think my career would last this long, and it’s still going.

When it’s your chance to step up to the plate, just hit it out of the park, and everybody will forget about everything that came before.

People now have been conditioned to believe they should only buy one song at a time, that nobody can make an entire record that would merit you paying, you know, $7, $8, $10 when CDs in the ’90s were $18, $19 and people bought millions and millions and millions of them.

I’ll always write music. Whether I release a record, whether I let the public hear it or not, I’m always writing music.

The guy comes up to the plate, there’s always a chance where he can get a grand slam and everybody forgets about all the times he missed.

Because I talk so much shit they give me overcredit just to shut me up!

When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: ‘Is this person in between me and what I want to do?’ If the answer is no, ignore it and move on. Your energy is better used doing your work and outpacing people that way. Then, when you’re in charge, don’t hire the people who were jerky to you.

When I do eventually drop, I pray to God that it’ll happen in one of three ways. Firstly, on stage or leaving the stage, then secondly in my sleep. And the third way? You’ll have to figure that out for yourself!

I don’t have anything that I treasure at all. They’re just things. I tend to buy an awful lot of stuff, like clothes and things. But I wouldn’t be bothered if my house burns down tomorrow.

Actors are an insecure breed. It’s hard to have your career depend upon other people’s opinions of what you do.

There were the Pussycat Dolls, and there’s a band called Perfect Pussy, but they’re white, so they get the pass. I can’t be Junglepussy and black, but I just push through, especially when my mother says she doesn’t have a problem with it.

I have to work with IKEA… Yo, IKEA, let Kanye create! I want a bed that he makes! I want a chair that he makes! I want more products from Ye!

I’ve been using the fan websites as I was acting it, because they know so much about the books, and it’s really helpful as a resource.

Think of our government as a body. The IRS is the anus. It’s nobody’s favorite part, but you need that thing working properly or everything goes to shit real quick.

I always used to develop a cold going into the studio.

Nothing is creepier than a bunch of adults being very quiet.

But I have to be careful not to let the world dazzle me so much that I forget that I’m a husband and a father.

The older you get the more capable you get at managing life.

I’ve never done work for money, ever. If your choices are based on grosses and the film doesn’t do well, what does that mean? It leaves you with nothing.

I’m not a mean person, but I have a capacity for it. I have the biting comment formed somewhere in the back of my head – like it’s in captivity. Sometimes people expect that I’m going to be tough. It’s not a bad situation. People treat you better. People are on time.