And I always found that the harder I worked, the better my luck was, because I was prepared for that.

I knew that God put me on this earth to be on the radio.

I'd watch my father get up at 5 o'clock and go down to the Eastern Market in Detroit to do the shopping for his restaurant, and get that business going and then go out on his vending machine business.

My uncle was a hero, Lewis Roundtree. He was not even related to me really, but he was always called my uncle. He was like a father to me. I was closer to him than I was my father.

And I always found that the harder I worked, the better my luck was, because I was prepared for that.

As a child, I loved to read books. The library was a window to the world, a pathway to worlds and people far from my neighborhood in Philadelphia.

You can work hard to sharpen your talent, to get better at whatever it is that you do, and I think that's what it comes back to.