"When you're poor and black, you're born into a world that turns your heart into a tin can and anyone who is in the mood swings out and kicks you. You're only a hunk, a black creature in a white world …"

"I've been told that nobody sings the blues like Billie Holiday. That's because I don't sing the blues, I live the blues."

"I've got to be myself, and I can't be myself unless I sing what I feel."

"I just sing the truth."

"I don't have any regrets. I've done what I've done."