I had difficulty working for other people.
— Don Cornelius
Black music is too big and too powerful not to have its own awards show.
MTV essentially killed 'American Bandstand' and 'Solid Gold,' because music videos are an easier way for pop artists to gain television exposure.
Who's more important than Diana Ross?
Soul music as we've always known it hasn't changed. There are different players now with different attitudes, but there is nothing new being done musically.
I felt that it was my mission to see to it that black talent had an opportunity to get national television exposure.
The 'Soul Train' legacy and brand are of the utmost importance to me and to 'Soul Train's' millions of fans. After years of offers, I feel the time is now finally right to pass the torch.
I am just convinced that people want to see people on TV who are more like themselves.
'Soul Train' was developed as a radio show on television. It was the radio show that I always wanted and never had.
When I have a job to do, time means nothing. I lose patience with people who work on a clock.
All I really wanted was to be a full-time disc jockey.
Blacks on prime-time TV are only portrayed as comedians - and often in no better a light than 'Amos & Andy.'
The '70s and '80s were just the period during which the best soul music was created and the best records were done.
Nobody really invents anything that hasn't been done before.
I always felt a love for music, but I never got my nerve up enough to try a musical instrument in school.
I figured as long as the music stayed hot and important and good, that there would always be a reason for 'Soul Train.'
Almost all of what I learned about mounting and hosting a dance show I learned from Dick Clark.
It's always a pleasure to find something that matters.
My father worked real hard. I admired him. My father taught me you needed to work with your brain and not your back. I've made that a passion.
One motivation for the 'Soul Train' awards was the grumbling that all of us in the industry have heard about the way black music tends to be viewed as a secondary phenomenon by the other awards shows.
When you come up with a good idea, you don't have to do a whole lot. The idea does it for you.
There were three great child singing stars: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Jackie Washington.
People who dance well, dress well, are well groomed and know how to behave seem to know others who dance, dress and behave well.
I was never exposed to a great deal of racism, but the Chicago I grew up in was very, very segregated.
There was no match for Barry White. His music is just going to live forever. It's not limited to disco or soul or hip-hop or anything.
Love, peace and soul.
