My older sister Nikki went to Hampton music school in Virginia, then to another school later in New York.

I was a shy little girl, nothing like what I am now.

Singing was the big focus and outlet for me.

Chick Corea was a great influence on me, musically, as I was growing up.

I face every project the same way - do it right and give 110%. 100% isn't good enough.

My family is very theatrical.

When I was five years old I knew I wanted to act.

I have to approach my life in this way so I can do what I need to do, and do it very well.

I hated stand-up.

Watched Star Wars in 77 and that's when I got into watching films. I was just blown away by it.

It's all about humanity, humility, and integrity.

People who don't use the tools given to them only injure themselves.

I've played piano and guitar when I was younger.

My driving force is spirituality.

I fit into the quirky, character class type of actor.

My older sister Nikki went to Hampton music school in Virginia, then to another school later in New York.

So many comics have such low self-esteem.

There is a class system in acting just like in anything else. Black females fall in a category below black male actors.

And I used to listen to a lot of jazz.

We always performed for our church, but we also just performed whenever the family got together.

I'm not the classic type - fair skin, very beautiful women of a classic type, I'm talking about now.

Voice is my instrument.

If you're going to do something, make it right and make it as good as you can. Don't waste anybody's time, especially your own.

I got an early education from television.

This business is all about being seen, and the more people see you the better.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.

That music and the lyrical aspects of Razorblade Romance is so personal to me that, now with me being grown up a bit and meeting new people and doing new things, it makes me look at the same things I was writing about back in the day through a different colored lens.

The only time I would like to see was the 20s and 30s in America because I love the music and the style and the optimism, I wanted to see New York being built. I wanted to see all that, you know.

My big love was the Beatles. I was more into music.

When we started making electronic music I imagined that the reaction we got from the rock musicians must have been similar to the one the beat groups got from people like my dad.

Uhm, I'm the one wanting the lessons! I don't want to say too much about it because I'd rather have you see the movie, but he's trying to find his music.

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.

Younger players in this music often turn out to be middle aged; it is not a young music.

There's an inherent thing in me where, if things are going too smooth, I'll sabotage the hell out of them, just to make the music more of a sanctuary.