I always wanted to be an artist, whatever that was, like other chicks want to be stewardesses. I read. I painted. I thought.

I started singing rhythmically, and now I'm learning from Otis Redding to push a song instead of just sliding over it

My father wouldn't get us a TV, he wouldn't allow a TV in the house.

On stage I make love to twenty five thousand people; and then I go home alone.

Singing, it's like it's like loving somebody, it's a supreme emotional and physical experience.

Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything.

I read, I painted, I didn't hate niggers.