My mom would give me a piece to play but I wouldn't do any theory because when it came time to do it I would sneak back upstairs and watch TV. So I had these kind of nonchalant lessons for years then it just started soaking in.

I remember when I was a kid watching my mother jam herself into her girdle - a piece of equipment so rigid it could stand up on its own - and I remember her coming home from fancy parties and racing upstairs to extricate herself from its cruel iron grip.

The music is the message the message is the music. So that's my little ministry that the Big Man upstairs gave to me - a little ministry called love and happiness.

I've always had great faith in the Man Upstairs.

His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs but there will never be equality in the servants' hall.

His lordship may compel us to be equal upstairs but there will never be equality in the servants hall.