I had this dream, and I really wanted to be a star. And I was almost a monster in the way that I was really fearless with my ambitions.

I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard, and my dream came true.

Fix your course on a star and you'll navigate any storm.

The first time I knew what I wanted to do with my life was when I was about four years old. I was listening to an old Victrola, playing a railroad song...I thought that was the most wonderful, amazing thing...That you could take this piece of wax and music would come out of that box. From that day on, I wanted to sing on the radio.

That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station.

You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.