I am not a special person. I am a regular person who does special things.

I'm not heart-broken if I don't have a hit. But I guess a hit would help. It makes the money go up a bit.

I don't know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I'm not putting jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer...I've recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I'm either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can't sing a blues – just a right-out blues – but I can put the blues in whatever I sing. I might sing 'Send In the Clowns' and I might stick a little bluesy part in it, or any song. What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music.

My dream is to do whatever I want without any interference from the record company.

What was the competition? Well, I remember this Puerto Rican who came out in a short skirt and a gun.

Judy Garland was the singer I most wanted to sound like then, not to copy, but to get some of her soul and purity. A wonderful young voice.

There are notes between notes, you know.