I dressed up as a veterinarian for a Halloween costume party. I had the lab coat. I got a couple of stuffed animals for patients and put bandages on them.

Men are able to sustain a career into their 50s and 60s and still present themselves as sex symbols. With women, on the other hand, people say, 'Why doesn't she retire?'

I never assumed I would have that commercial success, so it was a total surprise. And honestly, I never assumed that it would ever happen again.

We are the spirit, the collective conscience. We create the pain, and suffering, and beauty in this world.

Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

I got a plan to get out of here, I've been working at a convenient store.

A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty.