My mother had a rule, obviously, that I couldn't go across the street by myself, but I had to find a way of doing it.

I never had, like, a nanny that took care of me. My mom always fed me breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times...I learned very early in life that: 'Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain't got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend - without a song.' So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.

All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.

I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.

Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was so hard that when I was in the field I sang all the time. Usually gospel songs because they lifted me up above that black dirt.