Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.

I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.

You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.

I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.

If I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. "So you're the honky," she said, "who stole my song and got a hit out of it?

From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.