Growing up in the neighborhoods I did in Oakland, you don't know the Beatles, but I started learning their songs.

We should not fear what is new, but we should not throw out that which is in the past but is still valuable.

Live performance is everything. First of all, I have terrible stage fright. But beyond that, once the music starts, it's OK.

What did winning a Grammy do for me? It made me want to get rid of my Grammy, pack it away, and never see it again. It made me not want to speak to anyone who wanted to speak about my Grammy.

I've been writing the same book my whole life - that you're in one family, and all of a sudden, you're in another family, and it's not your choice, and you can't get out.

It's humiliating, being told you're not responsible enough to make your own choices in life.

The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.

When you look at death, it makes you understand the importance of the moment when you have life and death in front of you, and you witness seeing someone deteriorating in front of you - it's an overwhelming experience. If you don't learn from that, I don't know what else you're gonna learn.