Natalie Cole

“I think that talented people really do have insecurities, and that is one of the things that kind of motivates them, because that's one thing they know they're good at. And when they're up on that stage, you can do no wrong. The audience is yours; they're there to see you.”

“It's the subtleties of a ballad that truly make it beautiful - and it's all in the way you present it to the listener.”

“I've always been interested in the office. I was a secretary a long time ago, and I've always been into paperwork. My first secretarial job was 1965 or 1966.”

“People said when I started, 'Why don't you just copy your father's style?' I had to be myself, singing my songs in my own way.”

“I think we need to be sexy and kind of mysterious and still pretty and beautiful. I like to hear that when a man sings. I don't really want to hear about taking my clothes off.”

“People say I look younger than the music I'm doing just because the songs are older. Hopefully I can keep my youthful look!”

“I was madly in love with Elvis Presley. Dad wasn't into it at all, at least not for himself as a performer. He used to say, 'Mr. Cole does not rock n' roll.'”

“I imagine there are a lot of people who will never be able to accept me because they feel I've let them down, but I am a different person, and most people have welcomed me back in that spirit.”

“I managed to survive the worst things any entertainer could possibly go through.”

“I was determined to create my own identity. My first hits, in fact, were straight-up rhythm and blues. My voice was compared to Aretha Franklin's - though, for my money, no one compares to Aretha.”

“My father led by example. He wasn't much of a talker - he walked life.”

“I think it just came to a point where I made a decision to do better with my life and health. And that is only by God's grace because there are no guarantees.”

“I felt that if I'm serious about acting, I would like people to see me as an actress. It's less of a stretch if I'm singing, unless I'm playing a character who sings.”

“I would never do an album with 10 songs like 'Jump Start' on it. I'll only go so far to please fans.”

“If you don't have dialysis, absolutely, you will die. Dialysis is actually keeping me alive.”

“What's really important? That I'm an individual, I guess. I am an individual - a strong one, too. I'm Natalie Cole. I gotta be me.”

“Being my dad's daughter has allowed me to do a lot of things that maybe another artist might not be able to do or wouldn't be necessarily embraced doing.”

“I like Kelly Rowland, I think that she's great. It's hard to come out of the group of Destiny's Child and still kick some butt.”

“There were so many groups that I had in college, but I was always the solo singer. But what made it so unusual back in the day was that I was a black girl playing with all these white musicians, and I was also singing rock music on top of it.”

“I was going to college to be a doctor.”