I heard stories from my mother's mother who was an American Indian. She was spiritual, although she did not go to church, but she had the hum. She used to tell me stories of the rivers.

For me the goddess is the female of God, She is powerful if different.

I always had long legs. When I was young, I used to think, 'Why do I look like a little pony?'

After I moved with my mother to St. Louis, my older sister and I went to see Ike Turner, who was the hottest then. His music charged me. I was never attracted to him, but I wanted to sing with his band.

My mother used to wheel me about the campus when we lived in that neighborhood and, as she recounted years later, she would tell me that I would go to McGill.

In fact, my parents were church people; my father was a deacon in the church.