My eyes went blank, and I stared off, and the music started. It was raining, and the sun was shining at the same time, and there were these big bay windows, and there was the blue in the sky, and the sun on the trees, and it was drizzling.

I discovered is that I have a couple of valves that were leaky and had been giving, gave me a problem then. But I hadn't noticed anything up until then.A couple of incidents of shortness of breath and checked myself into a hospital, but that one in France really sat me down for a few minutes - a very few minutes, because seven days later I was in the studio, and eight days later, I was no the stage.

I would still be singing, because it's part of my heart and my soul, and it lifts me up. Find something you would do for free.

Every day is Thanksgiving.On this stage you're going to hear God and none of them other words, and I ain't going to touch my stuff.

Every day is Thanksgiving for me, man. Yeah, I still have an audience, and they ask the local promoter, "When is Al coming back?"

I kind of knew something was going on, and my older brothers and sisters were singing be-boppish kinds of stuff in the living room, and I was listening. I started singing, warmer than a summer night, at seven or eight years old.

Once you discover that you can, then you must.