I was born in an odd spot and was a very sensitive kid. My feelings could get hurt so easily because I always wanted to be loved, I wanted to be touched, I wanted to touch somebody. I wanted everybody to love me, so I think I was louder than I should have been. I was just trying to get attention. I always felt like I was somebody special, maybe it's because I needed to be somebody special.

I think being poor has been good for me. I saw how my mom and dad struggled, and how they could stretch a dollar farther than you could begin to imagine.

Above everything else I've done, I've always said I've had more guts than I've got talent.

The music does bring us together and it's cheaper than therapy!

My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

You'll pay the highest price on back roads and in back seats and in a cheap highway motel. But what's a few more strangers in a life of nothing else.

Children have always responded to me because I have that cartoon-character look.