I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.

Politics are not my arena. Music is.

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.

Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they're now more and more in the power seats.

I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.

If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody's supposed to respect you?

I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.