Whenever a woman would come too close, I would cut her off. Part of that was vindictive - but that was totally subconscious.

It's easy to get next to music theory, especially between your peers and music classes and so forth. You just pay attention. I had a good ear, so I realized that printed music was just about reminding you what to play.

I was inspired by a lot of people when I was young, every band that came through town, to the theater, or the dance hall. I was at every dance, every night club, listened to every band that came through, because in those days we didn't have MTV, we didn't have television.

A great song can make a terrible singer sound good, but a good singer - you put a great song on top of that, you're really in great shape!

Greatness occurs when your children love you, when your critics respect you and when you have peace of mind.

It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do.

My son is a hip-hop producer.