I Was Born With Music Inside Me.

When I Started To Sing Like Myself - As Opposed To Imitating Nat Cole, Which I Had Done For A While - When I Started Singing Like Ray Charles, It Had This Spiritual And Churchy, This Religious Or Gospel Sound. It Had This Holiness And Preachy Tone To It. It Was Very Controversial. I Got A Lot Of Criticism For It.

Art Tatum -- He Was A Genius. And Einstein, Not Me.

What I've Got To Live Up To, Is Being Myself. If I Do That, The Rest Will Take Care Of Itself.

Music Is The Chalk To The Blackboard Of Life. Without It Everything Is A Blank Slate

I Never Considered Myself Part Of Rock 'n' Roll. My Stuff Was More Adult. It Was More Difficult For Teenagers To Relate To; My Stuff Was Filled With More Despair Than Anything You'd Associate With Rock 'n' Roll. Since I Couldn't See People Dancing, I Didn't Write Jitterbugs Or Twists. I Wrote Rhythms That Moved Me. My Style Requires Pure Heart Singing.