I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

[On his heroin addiction:] I did it to myself. It wasn't society...it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.

Many times during auditions, I was told that I couldn't carry a note with a bucket, and that I sure couldn't play the piano.

Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.

Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.

Drunken talk isn’t meant to be printed in the paper.