If I've made money from music, it was never my aim to do that. I didn't do it to become famous. I absolutely respect and I believe I serve music.

I wasn’t interested in making a lot of money, but I was interested in making a lot of living.

He was right. I would only eke out a living as a singer. The limited success I had, which Bailey recognized, stemmed from the fact that I didn't love singing. My voice was fair and interesting; my ear was not great, or even good, but my rhythm was reliable. Still, I could never become a great singer, since I would not sacrifice for it. To become wondrously successful and to sustain that success in any profession, one must be willing to relinquish many pleasures and be ready to postpone gratification. I didn't care enough for my own singing to make other people appreciate it.

But mum, I sing now. I earn plenty of money in the streets

It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs.

I'm here to make money and get laid,
Yeah I'm a star but I'll fade.

I didn’t really expect to make any money. If I could make enough to cover the rent and buy some food that would be fine. As it turns out, it turned out to be quite valuable in the end.

I never really cared about achieving commercial success. As soon as I was signed to a record company, I felt like I made it because I was able to quit my day job. To me, success was just not having to have a boss and not having a day job. So I’ve been living my own version of success since the early ’90s when I first got signed and I haven’t had a job since then. I’m pretty happy about that. When I did have a little bit of commercial success, it really didn’t suit my temperament at all. I’m a terrible public person. I’m happier where I am now.

I didn't plan on rock 'n' roll. I wanted to learn jazz; I got to know some people doing rock 'n' roll with jazz, and I thought I could make money playing music. In rock 'n' roll you can realize anything that you can in jazz or anything. There's no limitation other than the beat. You have more freedom than you do in anything except jazz — which is dying — as far as making any money is concerned.

You see because doing music was not about making it, those were not the considerations for me. It was about: oh my goodness, this is such a huge price, and am I ready to pay this price?

I simply make music, and people have always been foolish enough to pay me for it. I never told them that I would have done it all for nothing. CBS TV 1976

If I was obsessed with making money off of my music, I wouldn't have released it for free on the internet for the last 5 years.

we don’t earn much in terms of copyright and you know a lot of artists have been trying to fight so that people get paid for their music.If a song plays in radio or in a club and we are earning from it, we should be earning from it but that law is still very week but we are working on it.

If you really want to make money, never make a decision based on money. 'Cause if you make-- if you chase money, you're gonna get less of it. If you chase a thing that you love -- that's interesting -- only because you love that thing, you'll make more money. I-- I just believe that's-- in the arts, that's the only way to make money, is to never consider money as a part of your decision.