It's very tough for a woman in the music business, and he really was such a motivator from the beginning, when I was super-shy, and he saw a lot in me on a personal level that he knew could carry through on the stage.

As an artist, you dream about accumulating enough successful music to someday do just one greatest-hits album, but to reach the point where you're releasing your second collection of hits is beyond belief.

When I was a teenager, I was fat. I was shy. I wore glasses. I had a big eyebrow and hair all over my body. They were years of torture.

You don't have to give up who you are to be successful just because you're different.

When I write a song it's always from the point of view: makes the song the best it can be.

We protect aspirin bottles in this country better than we protect guns from accidents by children.

The reason I’m not more political is because I have music. And from a young age, I needed it. After prison, my father came to America, joined the Army, fought in Vietnam - and was exposed to Agent Orange. He died a slow, horrible death. Music was my escape.