My Mom Taught Me A Lot. A

I Had To Pawn My Clothes Just To Pay My Rent.

I Don't Know What Would Have Happened To Me If I Hadn't Been Able To Hear.

[on His Heroin Addiction:] I Did It To Myself. It Wasn't Society...it Wasn't A Pusher, It Wasn't Being Blind Or Being Black Or Being Poor. It Was All My Doing.

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.

Drunken Talk Isn’t Meant To Be Printed In The Paper.