When I was four years old, my mother owned some tenements in the Bronx.

I used to perform all the time but I haven't performed in New York in a very long time.

I decided during my teens that I wasn't going to have the life of a concert pianist, much to the chagrin of a lot of people who had put a lot of money into me!

I'm lucky to be in a profession where you can keep getting better.

Since I was the solo artist as well as the writer for the songs, I figured I had enough credits on it already.

Someone skipped on the rent and they left behind a huge upright piano, which got moved into our apartment so the other apartment could get rented out. I took to it and started playing.

So I went into jazz and performed in jazz clubs all over the country.