I didn't worry about it because I kind of felt I left a good message and memory with the people in terms of my work, and I always felt with a good record, I could always come back.

I never had that thing about being black. If the whole world was like that, maybe there would be more harmony and love.

After I moved with my mother to St. Louis, my older sister and I went to see Ike Turner, who was the hottest then. His music charged me. I was never attracted to him, but I wanted to sing with his band.

I am a practicing Buddhist. I have been for 25 years.

I kind of felt I left a good message and memory with the people in terms of my work, and I always felt with a good record, I could always come back.

As a child my grandmother used to tell us stories about the dead and the mystical.

I grew up in the south, poor - on rock, dirt roads.