Andra Day

Listening to the stories told in jazz music and how those artists expressed their truths about the times and what they were dealing with is what struck me the most.

Once you see how powerful music is and how it can affect people, then you want to use it to impact the world.

My prayers are being answered for my career. These are prayers I've been praying for as a kid.

I consider each performance to be an intimate conversation between me and the audience members.

I always knew I wanted to be a performance artist.

I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.

I danced for a while, and I knew I could sing, so I just began singing in a praise band at church and doing musical theater and jazz vocal performance in school. One didn't really lead to another; I was just always interested in the performance arts.

I get people today who say, 'I first heard about you through the Stevie Wonder commercial.' The power of advertising in that way is incredible.

For the record, I am not Stevie Wonder's wife, and no, I am not his child.

I was actually discovered by Kai Millard and Stevie Wonder.

I am happy that I can challenge myself in various fields.

When I heard Billie Holiday's voice, Nina Simone's and Ella Fitzgerald's - there was something about their voices to me that was such a different texture than what I was used to listening to at the time. Hearing those jazz voices were so different, and I think I just gravitated toward it.