Oftentimes, the way it seems to be is that our artists in particular point themselves out as spokesmen for a certain constituency in a community, and thereby place themselves in that vulnerable position.

You know what has made me the happiest I've ever been? Seeing my son and daughter graduate from college. More than wanting them to be educated, I wanted them to be nice people. To see that they have become both is just a wonderful thing.

I don't see any independent position that I'm in; it's rather inter-dependent.

I was one of the first three black students to go to an all-white school in Tennessee.

I think that the more people who speak out, and say things and take stands on positions that will better our community, the better off each and every other individual artist or otherwise, will be.

I learnt early on that your audience take the songs in the way they want to rather than the way you might want them too.

Womenfolk raised me and I was full-grown before I knew I came from a broken home