I tell my kids and I tell proteges, always have humility when you create and grace when you succeed, because it's not about you. You are a terminal for a higher power. As soon as you accept that, you can do it forever.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
My son is a hip-hop producer.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
Everybody, no matter what vocation they're looking at, should add music as an essential to their curriculum. Music can be a very important part of your soul and your growth as a human being. It's so powerful.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
Cherish your mistakes, and you won't keep making them over and over again. It's the same with heartbreaks and girls and everything else. Cherish them, and they'll put some wealth in you.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
You make your mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
I hope that on my tombstone it says 'Born 1933, died 2043.' I hope that's my legacy.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
Young people should travel, and they don't. You can't know if you don't go.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
The climate in the '50s and '60s for black performers or black people in the entertainment business was atrocious. It was atrocious.
Copied to Clipboard
Copied to Clipboard
When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older.
