Performing is an experience, for me, that is as humbling as it is energizing.

I might have become a minor celebrity but royalty checks were a long way off.

Singing as a full-time job was not something I had given a lot of thought to and I had no clear notion of the money to be made in it.

Any entertainer who tells you that the adoration of fans is not a heady experience probably never had the experience.

I believe it is possible to tell what sign some people were born under by watching their eyes, watching how they walk, how they talk.

In 20 years I had sold more records for RCA than any artist except Elvis Presley.

It was unlikely that anyone had ever heard a black person sing country music.