I was more ashamed that I couldn't work the washing machine than the fact that I was taking drugs.

But you know, I have a pretty good relationship with the press and the paparazzi. It's just when they step over the line that, you know, enough's enough.

When Little Richard used to stand up and play it was just fabulous, and Liberace had the candlesticks and the rings and the gift of the gab. The piano's is the most ungainly rock' n' roll instrument of all time but those two people transcended it, as did Jerry Lee Lewis.

There is such a thing as good interference from your record label. I don't think I get enough interference from my record label.

We are all God's people; we have to get along and the [religious leaders] have to lead the way. If they don't do it, who else is going to do it? They're not going to do it and it's left to musicians or to someone else to deal with it.

You know, it's a very treatable disease. You shouldn't feel ashamed. But I'm afraid that's carried on very much so from the first days of AIDS, when it was basically a gay disease. And then, of course, you know, it affected everybody.

I’ll not complain about your boring life, if you just leave me to mine