Being A Parent Is Very Important To

I Think A Responsibility Comes With Notoriety, But I Never Think Of It As Power. It's More Like Something You Hold, Like Grains Of Sand. If You Keep Your Hand Closed, You Can Have It And Possess It, But If You Open Your Fingers In Any Way, You Can Lose It Just As Quickly.

Instead Of Looking At The Past, I Put Myself Ahead Twenty Years And Try To Look At What I Need To Do Now In Order To Get There Then.

I Have Never Gotten Into The Label Thing.

I'm From A Singing Family, But They're Not Professional Singers, Only Gospel - My Grandfather Was A Minister. I Started To Sing The Music That Was Out Then Because My Mother Used To Play It All The Time. It Was The End Of The '50s, The Beginning Of The '60s. There Was Frankie Lyman And The Teenagers, Etta James... We Used To Sit Outside On The Stoop And Sing. We Even Used To Put Our Radios And Record Players Outside.

I Listen To Most Everything That's Out There Because I Need To Stay Aware Of What's Happening In The Industry.