"For me, the other thing is not just a strong sense of spirituality."

"If you think about it, everything we do in life is set to some kind of music."

"I like that sense of we're all on the same page and trying to get the job done."

"There weren't any white people in this country who didn't know who Gladys Knight was. Or the Pips were, as far as that's concerned."

"But my attitude about it is I have miles to go before I sleep."

"In the last couple of years I've been picking up my guitar again."

"Music should probably provide answers in terms of lyrical content, and giving people a sense of togetherness and oneness, as opposed to being alone in their thoughts and dilemmas or regrets or happiness or whatever."

"If you have a Stradivarius and nobody to play it, it's just a Stradivarius. Or is it even that? It's nothing."

"I adore being with Roberta. I adore being in her spiritual light. I adore being close to her talent and gifts."

"The line between greatness and obscurity is very, very small."

"I never want to fake it. That's my whole thing."

"I'm having fun just being a musician as well as an artist at this point."

"There was a time in American history when almost every white person knew who Aretha Franklin was."

"I mean, on the food chain, do instruments really rate? I don't think so."

"Every significant event that takes place in our lives is set to some kind of music."

"I have to choose songs that represent my personality."

"Life is too short to harbor any hostilities towards anybody."