I've always loved War's Low Rider and Sly Stone's Thank You, and I just wanted to put my take on them.

Leave me alone. I'm fine.

When I commit, I commit with my whole heart, my whole being. I know the Bible like the back of my hand.

I quit high school on my birthday. It was my senior year and I didn't see the point. This was 1962, and I was ready to make music.

I woke up when I was 14 and went to speak to my mother and scared us both to death.

All I had was the will and the love for music. I couldn't read music or write it. No connections, no car, no money, no bankroll, no clothes, no nothing.

One preacher turned me on, another turned me off.