It never dawned on me at any particular time of my life that people are paid tremendous money to sing.

Of course, the kids who had never heard of a person called Ben E. King were then aware of the name associated with the song. That gave a tremendous lift to me as an artist.

The trouble that they see me in is a part of my life that I'm working on.

You were able to sing something they related to instantly, because it was part of what you felt. It was part of what you had already traveled through. It's part of the people you were associating with daily. It was all of that.

I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.

All my life, people have been underestimating me.