My mother turned me onto St. Jude back in the days when I was wild and crazy. She took me to the shrine on Rampart Street.
I think St. Jude helped me achieve some miracles in my life - that's why I wear the medallion in my left ear and never take it out.
It's up to God to do the judging. You haven't walked in my boots, so how are you going to judge me?
If we were poor, we didn't know it 'cause I guess you don't miss what you never had. So, you know, we made do with whatever. We used to make our own toys, and we used to play with spinning tops and marbles. A pocket full of marbles, and you were rich - you didn't worry about no money.
I was raised Catholic, but my father's people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.
I even done a doo-wop version of the Mickey Mouse march.
I used to always sing my way into the movies and the basketball games or whatever. I'd sing for whoever's on the door, and they'd let me in. I used to think I was Nat King Cole back in the day, you know. So I'd sing something like, 'Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you,' and they'd let me in.
The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.
My dad and my mom were big Nat King Cole fans, so they had everything he did.
Through the years, I found we had Native American blood in us. My great-grandmother came from the island of Martinique, and they hooked up with the Native Americans of Louisiana.
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 remember going up and doing 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' with Paul Simon, Santana playing up there with us.
I grew up singing Ray Charles and Jimmy Reed.
