Music is an art and art has its own rules. And one of them is that you must pay more attention to it than anything else in the world, if you are going to be true to yourself. And if you don't do it - and you are an artist - it punishes you.

I don't like drug addicts and she sounds like a cat.

I applied for a scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.

The Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.

Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.

My singing, if you want to call it that is merely another medium of expression. Just an instrument I play. That's how I see my voice.

Tomorrow, I might be in a different mood and you wouldn't recognize my voice.