The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.

You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.

If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.

I've been told that nobody sings the word 'hunger' like I do.

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.