My faith always has been and always will be important to me.

I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.

If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.

And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.

Soul is a constant. It's cultural. It's always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.

Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.

Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.