"Heroin was my only friend. It killed my pain."

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood."

"I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been blind. I might have been a pimp or a dope pusher."

"I don't care about color. I care about music."

"I don't sing to sound like nobody. I sing to sound like Ray Charles."