I've gone through so much in my life. I should have been dead a long time ago, but I am still here, and I'm the happiest I've ever been.

And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.

Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.

I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.

Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.

My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy.

When Malcolm X was assassinated I was working at the Apollo. They brought his body to the Unity Funeral Home, which was around the corner.