It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.

I'm not a jazz singer, blues singer or country singer. I'm a singer that can sing rhythm & blues, that can sing jazz, that can sing country. There's a big difference. In other words, I'm not a specialist.

I cant retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. Youd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix.

Music is about the only thing left that people don't fight over.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more.

I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of