“Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.”

“When I look out at the people and they look at me and they're smiling, then I know that I'm loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems.”

“Once you lose the weight, you're really anxious to eat healthy.”

“Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.”

“You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.”

“Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.”

“I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.”

“The band in the ballroom announced the cover of a special request, and after a pause, the woman's voice sang out the breathy first line of Etta James's "At Last." Chairs barked as guests rose to greet the champion of all wedding songs, the one that always brought indifferent or fighting or estranged couples to the dance floor for momentary reconciliation.”