When life is real, it's not going to be smooth.

When I was a child I didn't care about getting an education, and I didn't finish high school.

I'm on my way to a place where I'd never dreamed I'd be, and that's perfection.

I didn't never have to go to a therapist. I just always put it in a song and you heard me.

The music business is really, really small. The real music is becoming almost extinct, if you don't stay true to who you are.

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

I wish I had known that education is the key. That knowledge is power. Now I pick up books and watch educational shows with my husband. I'm seeing how knowledge can elevate you.