You always have to remember – no matter what you’re told – that God loves all the flowers, even the wild ones that grow on the side of the highway.
I learned jazz; that comes from blues. I learned rock; that comes from blues. I learned pop; that comes from blues. Even dance, that comes from blues, with the answer-and-response.
I come from a line of great Sicilian women, and their mentality is to endure and push through to the other side.
I get the greatest feeling when I’m singing. It’s other-worldly. Your feet are anchored into the Earth and into this energy force that comes up through your feet and goes up the top of your head and maybe you’re holding hands with the angels or the stars, I have no idea.
Your own shoes are hard enough to fill, but somebody else’s are even tougher.
When you become famous, they don’t give you a handbook.
I knew Queen Elizabeth didn’t do any laundry! I knew I wasn’t going to be doing laundry. I was going to be singing.
Everything does go in a circle.
I lucked out when I started to sing. I’d already experienced failing at everything else.
I have a wig for when I go outside among the regular folks, so they don’t feel uncomfortable because I have a Day-Glo color somewhere in my hair.
And I’ll see your true colors shining through. I see your true colors and that’s why I love you. So don’t be afraid to let them show. Your true colors, true colors are beautiful, like a rainbow...
People used to throw rocks at me for my clothes, now they wanna know where I buy them.
Sometimes my mind boggles. It’s so deep my mind actually boggles.
Everyone – whether straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender – should be allowed to show their true colors, and be accepted and loved for who they are.
When I sing I don’t feel like it’s me. I feel I am fabulous, like I’m 10 feet tall. I am the greatest. I am the strongest. I am Samson. I’m whoever I want to be.
Somebody did complain to me and tell me that my clothes were so loud they couldn’t hear me sing.
You know, I’ve been playing with my hair color ever since I was nine.
What, do you think that feminism means you hate men?
You know, I do speak the Queens English. It’s just the wrong Queens that’s all. It’s over the 59th Street Bridge. It’s not over the Atlantic Ocean.
You can laugh when I talk, but not when I sing.