James Darren Quotations

I listen to Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Nat Cole, John Coltrane, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles. I absolutely love Ray Charles. I listen to Stan Getz, Ahmad Jamal, King Pleasure. My CD collection is getting too large, but I'd never get rid of those. I listen to Anita Baker, Elton John, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones.

A lot of people from my neighborhood turned out to be well known. In a ten-block radius from my home, there was Eddie Fisher, Al Martino, Buddy Greco, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Sunny Gale (she was a wonderful singer), David Brenner, Jack Klugman. Mario Lanza was in my family by marriage.

People ask me if I'd like to be a teenager today, I'd have to say, "Not really." I'd never have gotten to meet Frank Sinatra. I wouldn't have ever known Quinn, Gregory Peck, David Niven or Lee Thompson or Carl Foreman or Shelley Winters or Burl Ives. I wouldn't have known those people.

Sinatra was the biggest influence on my life, my singing career. And rightly so. I mean he was the best singer ever.

Doing a TV show, you're on an assembly line and it's as cut and dry as that. There are some shows that are exceptions. There are producers that want really special things.

A lot of people who were the best in their fields. I was fortunate enough to be friends with Sammy Davis, Jr. - I spent a lot of time with Sammy. I was over at his house almost every night. Those people were very special and very special for me.

Back in the Rat Pack days, we'd take Frank's plane and sit dead center, because of Nancy. We'd watch the Rat Pack in the center ring and you couldn't ask for a better thing.

One thing I don't do is, I don't listen to Sinatra before I record or before I go out live. Because if I did, I'd have to say, "What am I doing?" I couldn't listen to the greatest singer in the world and try to go out there and sing. I'd be too depressed.

That era was very special, so to be part of it and to have lived it... people look at me and say, "You're the luckiest guy in the world." And I just have to say, "I know.