American Quotes

My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that.

I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.

I sing the songs that people need to hear.

I am so happy that I am alive and can walk.

But even so, I still get nervous before I go onstage.

And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.

What happens is, when I perform, I'm somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am. I forget my troubles, my worries.

They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I'm still vulgar. I'm vulgar because I dance in the chair. What would they want me to do? Want me to just be still or something like that? I've got to do something.

My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.

Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.

You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.

When I look out at the people and they look at me and they're smiling, then I know that I'm loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems.

They keep telling me that my flow's up to date, you know. I guess they thought I was gonna come back sounding... old.

There were times in my career I went a little further than I wanted because of expectations. Doing certain things onstage when children were in the audience, wearing certain clothes, singing certain lyrics.

There are different kinds of people in the world.

There are a lot of good things that we can do. Maybe my example can help someone.

People have this impression that I'm this crazy Christian, but I'm really balanced.

Our attitude is that we want to cross over. You can't go on making records just for your own hometown.

One of the speakers asked how many women had been harassed or abused sexually in their life? There were thousands of women in the audience, and almost every one of them raised her hand.

'None of Your Business.' It's the only Salt-N-Pepa song that I regret.

I've changed my life in a lot of ways. I'm a mom, a wife, and a Christian. Some of the things I expressed in my early 20s aren't what I care to express right now.

I'm really open to doing music. We just have to figure out what kind of music it's going to be - something where I don't feel compromised.

I'm not really into the fashion thing.

I remember feeling all right with myself until age 13. Then, I was getting off the bus one day and this guy called me Miss Piggy. That was the first time I ever really felt like I wasn't okay.

I got to that desperate place where nobody could help me but God.

I don't want to give the illusion that one day God came down and I was healed.

I don't like the fact that there are so few women in rap.

I didn't want to get back into the whole industry. I left overworked, overwhelmed, and not having any control over my life. I was bulimic and needed to heal.

For the moment, I'm concentrating on my own stuff.

For me, the bulimia was about stuffing my emotions. So I stopped suppressing my feelings.