In some ways, it's my rage that keeps me going.

When I'm performing for the people, I am me, then. I am that little girl who, when she was five years old, used to sing at church. Or I'm that 15-year-old young lady who wanted to be grown and wanted to sing and couldn't wait to be smokin' a cigarette, you know?

Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.

That's where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was laying hold of some part of me that I didn't even know was there until I let it out.

It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.

My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that.

It's the same thing now. When I go onstage the young people scream and holler as much as the older generation.