Quotes

When I'm singing, I connect the dots with notes.

I've done all different kinds of genres - doo-wop, pop, funk, gospel, country, jazz, you name it.

I just sing what I feel in my heart. I ain't trying to prove nothing, and I don't think I ever did.

Without faith, I don't think I'd be here.

I didn't just get to 75 years by tiptoeing. I had to work hard sometimes.

I never really got paid for 'Tell It Like Is,' but I look back at it and say God knew what he was doing; he probably figured that if I had got money back in them days, I wouldn't be here now. That's okay. I'm here. And I'm still singing the song.

I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy.

When I get down to Louisiana, I get to have a taste of some of that great food.

People are living a lot longer these days and not preparing for it. I'm in the gym and, you know, using my voice.

A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads.

I worked with the Neville Brothers for 40-some years on the highway, and up and down since I can remember - funk from New Orleans.

I think the Creator renews me.

I've had problems with my throat over the years, playing with loud bands for years, and I've had bruised vocal chords and nodules.

The gospel music and doo-wop is what has informed me personally.

I'm here now because of my faith. That's what got me singing and what has kept me singing. That is what I have: what has kept me doing right and has provided me with the chances and the attitude and the skills to do this.

Don Was is a friend of mine; we've done projects together over the years.

It's one of the greatest festivals in the world. New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest is the best all-around... It's an honor to be closing it.

When I was growing in the Callope project, we had an oval parkway. Pavement ran around this whole thing. We'd skate or ride bicycles. There were benches and trees out there. It was paradise to us. They finished building it the same year I was born.

I've been into every doo-wop there is. I think I went to the university of doo-wop-ology.

My brother Art was a doo-wopper. He had a group that sat out on a park bench in New Orleans and sang harmonies at night, and they'd go around and win all the talent shows and get all the girls, you know.

I started listening to gospel when I was a little boy and my grandmother used to rock me on her lap.

My dad and my mom were big Nat King Cole fans, so they had everything he did.

I always feel I'm blessed, you know. I thank God for letting me use his voice. That's how I see it.

Ain't no place like New Orleans. It's one of kind.

When I was living in the projects, I had a mop stick for my horse. I wanted to be Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, so I would ride my mop through the projects.