Anita Baker

“Historically, in my generation, all of my heroes and heroines have had issues and problems. We all do.”

“We don't do drugs, drink or use profanity. Instead we instill morals and values in my boys by raising them with a love of God and a love and respect for themselves and all people. I believe they will have a chance.”

“I need my career. That's what validates me.”

“I have as many pictures of my vocal cords as I do of my children. I have a great ear, nose and throat doctor, and we look at them - if there's some redness, maybe I'll take a little time off.”

“I'm used to getting up at 7, getting breakfast, getting the kids off to school, and doing the mommy thing and the wife thing and the daughter thing.”

“I don't think being black has held me back at all. Being black makes you strong.”

“I used to sing at funeral homes for families that didn't have a vocalist. I didn't get paid. I needed to sing.”

“I'd love to be the political voice of my generation, but that's not my gift.”

“Completeness? Happiness? These words don't come close to describing my emotions. There truly is nothing I can say to capture what motherhood means to me, particularly given my medical history.”

“I would say that my peak was making my first million at the ripe age of 29, after the first album.”

“If you have your own agenda and your own style and you don't easily conform to what the masses are doing, you're looked upon as being difficult. Whereas, I think of it as just being an individual.”

“I love radio, but it's a very limited thing today. Everything has to be edited down to 3:59, and too bad if I didn't make my statement in three minutes and 59 seconds. Everybody's song has to make its point so quickly.”

“When you're away for a long time, tastes change, fans move on. You hate to think about it, but it's an ugly fact of life.”

“You leave home to seek your fortune and, when you get it, you go home and share it with your family.”

“Oh my goodness, they are rocking so many variations of my high-top fade. I mean, Rihanna has taken it to a very angular 21st Century thing. Miss Fantasia has it in a very seductive, you know, up-flip, and it's just lovely, right? Oh, I think it's wonderful.”

“If I could be doing anything, I'd be laying on the floor in my birthday suit eating junk food and watching something dumb on TV.”

“I would make far more money if every song were my own, but I don't write to fill up the album with my songs.”

“It's impossible to write and produce a record when your parents are dying. I really tried, I really, really tried, but it just wouldn't come.”

“I made numerous attempts to find a way to do it all, to be a creative singer, songwriter, producer, and to be the mother, daughter, sister, lover, wife. And the thing about music is, with me, that she's a harsh mistress. She does not come to me in the midst of stress.”

“As soon as you get off stage, that's the most dangerous time for a singer to kiss people because your vocal chords are receptive to any kind of germ.”