Top 25 Toni Basil Quotes

There’s nothing better than being head cheerleader, let me tell you.

I feel very connected to Las Vegas. It’s my hometown.

I did ‘Viva Las Vegas’ with Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret. By standing in for Ann-Margret for a week, I learned the feeling of being a star in a musical number.

If I like something, it seems a pretty good bet that other people will, too.

I’m surprised by the success of anything I do, but it’s gratifying when the public approves.

The ’60s was leather soles and a wooden floor. That’s why the twist, the simplest dance, was such a sensation. Everyone could do it. They just swivel their feet and the upper body fell naturally in the opposite direction.

I love street and I love ballet and I love to convey what I can.

A diva without a venue is a maniac.

On my ‘Mickey‘ video, I was the director, producer, choreographer, editor, singer – everything.

I have an inspired career other than just singing.

Creating a dance is like coming up with a Chuck Berry riff.

On a TV show, for instance, dancers have to be paid for a week and a half rehearsal time. So unless they’re vital to a production, they’re just not used.

I don’t know how people get into show business if their family‘s not in it.

I’ve always considered rock ‘n’ roll, the music and the dancing, an art form.

I grew up in show business, so I always knew I was going to be a dancer or a performer. I knew that was my business.

I grew up thinking of show business as a business.

Start dancing immediately. Run to the closest dance studio, and study the style of dance of the music you love. If you love hip-hop music, go to a hip-hop class. If you love salsa, take a salsa class. It will become infectious and you’ll keep going back.

People don’t connect the girl that sang ‘Mickey’ with the girl who was one of the seven original Lockers or the same girl who was in ‘Easy Rider‘ or the same girl who choreographed David Bowie, Tina Turner, and Bette Midler tours. It’s like I’ve led five lives.

I’ve always been a dancer, and I will always be a dancer.

Mickey’ is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a one-hit wonder.

It never dawned on me I would do anything but show business.

I think, actually, I was the first person to ever sign a simultaneous video and recording deal with a record company.

I was a cheerleader in grammar school. There were no cheerleaders in that school I made them have them.

I come from a very vaudevillian family.

I don’t think my story is an unusual story for a lot of music performers. But I think that since 1982, worldwide, I have probably seen less than 3,000 American dollars in royalties.