Quote collection
57 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"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."
"I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is."
"...the people at large absolutely gave James Brown respect. He was an original like a Rembrandt or a Picasso"
"I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses."
"Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum."
"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've always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome."
"I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks."
"Clark Terry is an American Master. I love to listen to him, particularly 'Mumbles.' I was so delighted when we received degrees together, along with Edward Kennedy, at the New England Conservatory in 1997."
"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."
"Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me."
"I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage."
"Politics are not my arena. Music is."
"It's so glamorous, you have to see it." (describing the $92 million Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)"
"And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying."
"I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it."
"Call in the Caped Crusader, Green Hornet, Kato, too. I'm in so much trouble I don't know what to do."