"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."

"Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that."

"I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music."

"I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else."

"I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage."

"I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is."

"My faith always has been and always will be important to me."

"I'm a big woman. I need big hair."