I think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.

Nowadays they say you need a special chip to put in the TV so kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we didn't need a chip. My mom was the chip. End of story.

When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.

The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.

Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.

I set my own rhythm, and I do believe it was usually a little faster than most other people's.

Goodbye don't mean gone.