Born on January 24th

"Every morning I wake up and thank God."

"Be honest, be nice, be a flower not a weed."

"It's up to God to do the judging. You haven't walked in my boots, so how are you going to judge me?"

"I think things happened the way they did for a reason."

"'Yellow Moon' was a poem. My wife at the time, Joel - she's dead now - it was our 25th anniversary. She had the chance to go on a cruise with her sister. And I'm home with the kids and looking up, and I saw the big moon, and I just started writing."

"I really like listening to music in my car."

"The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience."

"Every day, some act of kindness comes my way, even if it's just someone opening the door. It happens every day if you keep an eye out for it. Keeping an eye out, that's the key."

"Ain't no place like New Orleans. It's one of kind."

"People are living a lot longer these days and not preparing for it. I'm in the gym and, you know, using my voice."

"Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up with a song in my head, and I have to finish it so I can fall back asleep."

"I was raised Catholic, but my father's people were Methodist, so we went to both churches."

"I am very honored and excited to have 'Devotion' released as the first DVD Audio disc... surround sound is amazing... The music comes alive and is so vibrant - it's unlike anything you've ever heard before!"

"My drummer, bass player, and guitar player sing backgrounds. They play and sing. I can sing all the harmonies, but I can't do it alone."

"Man, I was scared. I didn't know what to think. All of a sudden, I got a record climbing the charts, and I'm out in the streets. You know, workin' on the docks. And the first week, it sold something like 40,000 in New Orleans."

"Singing is my entire life. I nearly lost that. I am so blessed to be able to do this. It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do."

"I never really got paid for 'Tell It Like Is,' but I look back at it and say God knew what he was doing; he probably figured that if I had got money back in them days, I wouldn't be here now. That's okay. I'm here. And I'm still singing the song."

"Beyonce is cool, and she can really sing."

"When I was living in the projects, I had a mop stick for my horse. I wanted to be Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, so I would ride my mop through the projects."

"Don Was is a friend of mine; we've done projects together over the years."

"When I record something, I'll take a drive and just listen."

"I eat a lot of fish to stay healthy."

"My favorite prayer is Footprints in the Sand. You know that prayer? I know the times that he carried me, you know? I kind of wore him out."

"Me and my partners had been stealing cars for a while."

"I always tell people I want to see the world through His eyes, and I want people to see Him in me."

"But I knew if I ran I'd never be able to sing, so I had to take my punishment."

"I started listening to gospel when I was a little boy and my grandmother used to rock me on her lap."

"God is waiting for us, to forgive us all, and what is broken, he'll fix."

"I owe it all to Jesus."

"A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads."