Hitmaker: The Man and His Music Audiobook

Quotes

• “Tommy knows what it’s like to be hungry. He’s a rock and roll animal, and he’s a street guy. He had that fire in the belly. You’re not gonna keep a guy like that down. He thrives on adversity.”

  — Billy Joel

• “I’ve met a few legends in my life, and Tommy Mottola is one of them. What Tommy did, in my opinion, is change the landscape of music and the music business. He made the music business more fun, less corporate, more maverick…He was a catalyst in making me think about things differently and it changed the course of my life. He understands star power, making superstars, and globalization.”

  — Simon Cowell

• “Tommy’s a smart guy, he’s creative, and he’s got street smarts, and he did it! It’s one of those classic American success stories, coming out of a neighborhood like the Bronx, you just do it, you make it and you’re able to become the CEO of Sony. I was proud of him.”

  — Robert De Niro

• “Tommy became a huge part of my life and my career. He’s a guru. He knows what he’s doing. No one had as much to do with the success of the music business as Tommy. He has created more superstars than anyone else. All these amazing artists with such great catalogs, it all had to do with Tommy.”

  — Jennifer Lopez

• “Launching an artist’s career, creating the aura that someone special is about to come on the scene, and then taking it to each separate level where they become not only national stars but international stars, with uniqueness and a special aura, Tommy did that extremely well.”

  — Clive Davis

• “Tommy Mottola’s got guts and balls of steel. When the whole world said no to the Chicago soundtrack, Tommy said yes. The album won a Grammy and sold four and a half million copies. So much for the naysayers.”

  — Harvey Weinstein

• “[Chazz Palmintieri’s] narration complements the story, with its blunt but heartfelt tone, as he recounts Mottola’s rise from his humble origins as a teenager awed by Elvis to his pivotal role in the careers of such modern-day music legends as Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey.”

  — AudioFile

• “Mottola affects a conversational style steeped in the flavors of his Bronx origins…Business students will find his insiders’ view valuable and his street smarts charming.”

  — Kirkus Reviews