I'm just singing what I feel in my heart.

I would get in fights a lot. My voice was so heavy, kids would say you sound like a boy, so I would start beating them up.

If I wasn't my age, I would turn a flip. I would do some cartwheels. That's how I feel.

We stay strong. We stay positive, keep our heads up, love one another, spread love. The Devil can't win when you have God on your side.

Well Lord, I'm still on the case. I'm still doing what Dr. King and Pops want me to do. I'm still on that freedom highway, and I'm going to walk on it until Dr. King's dream is realized.

I started writing letters home to my mother, saying that I wanted to come home, grandma won't let me sing.

My uncle was 16, in junior high, and he heard me singing and snatched me off the stage. I thought he was happy and was going to pat me on the head and say I was good. But he took me home and told my grandmother this youngin' was at school singing the blues.