If you are burned, you are naturally anxious to see what your face looks like as soon as they take the bandages off. In my case, it was my voice that was my main concern.

The voice is like a man, like ourselves: we all feel melancholic about what we have lost, the things we could do when we were young. But having the possibility to still perform is wonderful. The voice loses elasticity as you age, but on the other hand, maybe you are more mature as an interpreter, maybe your approach to singing deepens.

What originates everything are the emotions, the feelings, what we call soul. Then the brain commands these feelings to the voice. The voice is just the vehicle; it's the very last step in the chain.

I can't see why we can't toss in a Junior Walker or Wilson Pickett number in every once in a while.

I've always said that music is like literature.

People naturally want to know about what happened, about my leukemia. They ask the same questions again and again. And there have been so many positive conclusions, even through the bad times, that I don't mind at all to be reminded of my struggles.