The models for me were more the folk-rock singers of the '60s and '70s.

Then I went through a big Peggy Lee stage, then I became Annie Ross, then Judy Collins.

We are in this period now where we all are trying to be in shape physically and deny ourselves any pleasure.

We went to see all the shows. American musical theater and jazz were very big.

Well, I make every song I sing personal. I've never chosen a song that wasn't.

Well, I tried to get a record deal in 1966 or '67, and everyone thought I was too eclectic.

You usually can't tell what's inspiring until you look back on it.

You're lucky you had that when you were 20. I sure didn't. I was overweight, and I had acne.

Being in this business for as long as I've been in it, it's sort of like living in a town or a city before the war and then after the war and then during the reconstruction and then during the time that it sprawls out to the malls.

I've gone through the village of my songwriting and my artistry, and I've gone through lots of different phases, including one where it has been very quiet and abandoned me for a few years.

It didn't matter as much because I'm a singer, not an actress, but my face is more acceptable in a way now than when I first came on the scene, because I'm part black.

One of the things that has always motivated me to write is the desire to get it out and look at it in an objective way, so that it doesn't cause me any serious pain by staying inside.

Sometimes my boyfriend would write the lyrics and I would write the melody, and other times I would start from scratch. Or sometimes I would take a local poem and put that to music.

You know when you take the paint off an old canvas and you discover that something's been painted underneath it? That's what I feel like - that part of the old is coming through the new.

A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars.

I took it to heart that in order to be a good person, you never said anything mean about anybody.

We need role models who are going to break the mold.

My scar is beautiful. It looks like an arrow.

There was a French singer, Francoise Hardy - I used to look at her pictures and try to dress like her.

I always think it's interesting to dig a little bit deeper every time you go to someplace that seems like a revelation or a strong connection to an emotional truth.