The models for me were more the folk-rock singers of the '60s and '70s.

We need role models who are going to break the mold.

You're lucky you had that when you were 20. I sure didn't. I was overweight, and I had acne.

My look was even more solidified when I started singing in Greenwich Village with my sister Lucy. We wore matching dresses as the Simon Sisters.

As a singer I tried on all these hats, these voices, these clothes, and eventually out came me.

It didn't matter as much because I'm a singer, not an actress, but my face is more acceptable in a way now than when I first came on the scene, because I'm part black.