I believe the time will come when the whole definition of pop music will change. It will get to the point where a song will not be a good song until it has a high level of creativity in writing and performance. In other words, in order to be popular, songs will have to meet these high standards.

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

Desegregation is a joke.

Music is the center of my life.

I have a cultured manner of speaking.

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.

Once I understood Bach's music, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.