Whenever I'm onstage, I try my best not to think that I'm performing. It's simply another part of my day.

I don't want anything to get in the way of me and my singing. I want my mind as clear as possible.

Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.

In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy.

Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.

To be a musician, you have to be honest... to be honest... to be honest.

If I sing "you broke my heart, you left me flat," everyone knows exactly what that means - they know the story. But if I sing a line that's plaintive or wailing, people can experience their own set of emotions and their own story. Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It's open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.