Ask anyone. If it hadn't been for Elvis, I don't know where popular music would be. He was the one that started it all off, and he was definitely the start of it for me.

I find that so many of my peers of my age don't listen to anything new. But I love the new. I love the energy of the new, the energy of the new act. The young are so important. The young give you the energy, and if you don't notice the young, and you don't give them credit and you don't listen to all sorts of music, then you're missing out on something.

I don't think there can ever be too many messages about AIDS. If you stop the education process, then people are going to think the problem is all over and done with. They'll think that it's OK to go and have sex again. Education is essential, especially among young people.

I just think you shouldn't expect people to pay money to see someone sing live and then lip-synch.

Children are extremely important. They are the future of the world.

People who mock rap and say, "I don't like it," they should go and check out Kanye [West] in the studio rapping, or Marshall, Eminem, when he's in the studio. It's a phenomenon. Don't knock it until you've seen it. It may not be your cup of tea, but don't ridicule it.

I didn't really know what I was until I came to America and I had sex [for the first time] in San Francisco in 1970. It was with someone of my own sex.