Quotes

I figured I could do "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World" because I believe it's the truth.

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

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.

The only time that I am really truly happy - when I feel at my best - is when I am on the stage.

When I perform, what happens is I'm somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am.

[on Beyoncé, who played her in Cadillac Records (2008)] I can't stand Beyoncé.

[on her music] A lot of people think the blues is depressing but that's not the blues I'm singing. When I'm singing blues, I singing life. People can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies.

[on Christina Aguilera] She reminds me of myself when I was young. I've always been a complainer, too, that's what I liked about her. The bad-girl syndrome was a controversy then, but that was always the hip thing. Everybody wanted to be the bad girl!