I've seen so much. And I've heard so many great performers. There are performers now that couldn't work back in the days when I came along.

As much as I try, when I open my mouth, Lena comes out, And I get so mad.

I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.

I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else.

I remember the day tDr. King died. I wasn't angry at the beginning. It was like something very personal in my life had been touched and finished.

I was lucky, as many of my generation was, in having a man like Dr. King in our lives. He came at a time that we needed to take a long look at each other and see how similar we were.

The naked female body is treated so weirdly in society. It's like people are constantly begging to see it, but once they do, someone's a hoe.