Fame doesn't redeem you. It takes a long time to get there, and when you're finally there, you realise you still have authority figures telling you what to do.

You know, I do speak the Queens English. It's just the wrong Queens that's all. It's over the 59th Street Bridge. It's not over the Atlantic Ocean.

I don't have good business sense. You never get much money for the arts. But I like independence. I like to grow.

My torso is short, but my arms are really long and gangly and my legs and my neck, and my feet and hands are really long, and I look like a duck.

I learned jazz; that comes from blues. I learned rock; that comes from blues. I learned pop; that comes from blues. Even dance, that comes from blues, with the answer-and-response.

What, do you think that feminism means you hate men?

Somebody did complain to me and tell me that my clothes were so loud they couldn't hear me sing.