I like to shop, but I don't like to go out to dances.

I really turned into, you know, the real street kid. I was kind of like a runaway, but I had a mother, you know what I mean, and I had a place to stay.

The music was thunder and joy. Lightning bolts of happiness and praise, foot-stomping, dance-shouting, good-feeling singing from the soul.

The only time that I am really truly happy—when I feel at my best—is when I'm on the stage.

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.

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.

I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute.