If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.
R&B is not a fad; it's the truth.
I've never recorded anything I didn't like.
Politics are not my arena. Music is.
I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage.
And I've been hurt hurt bad. I might be just twenty-six, but I'm an old woman in disguise twenty-six goin'on sixty-five.
As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war ... You have to learn when to let go. And that's not easy.
Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.
I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.
On the sly, scoping for love.
I've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.
I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.
Judy Garland is a singer with a capital S. And talk about soul. This woman was soul personified. Judy Garland is a class by herself.
I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'
I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her.
Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.
Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.
I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.
I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.
I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.
I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.
Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.
...the people at large absolutely gave James Brown respect. He was an original like a Rembrandt or a Picasso
I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.
You're a no good heartbreaker, you're a liar, and you're a cheat. I don't know why I let you do these things to me.
