Sharon Jones Quotes

The only thing I wanted to accomplish was to finally get recognized by the music industry. If you know the awards, answer me this question: Do you see an award for soul music? No. They have R&B, funk, hip-hop and all sorts of contemporary things.

A lot of people call me gay because they don't see me with anyone.

Until the '90s, major labels were looking for a certain look. This Sony guy told me I was 'too black, too fat, too short, and too old.' Told me to go and bleach my skin. Told me to step in the background and just stay back. I had the voice, but I didn't have the looks.

I'm lookin' at these Disney characters, these young girls coming out looking like, little whores.

going, but that was OK. Good, honest hard work: burying the dead. Took an hour to dig a hole

As for meat, I'm not going to become vegetarian. I'm telling you that right now. I want me a steak. I want me a pork chop. I want me a lamb chop, even a piece of duck every once in awhile. We used to have ham and salami, all that crazy stuff. I can't eat processed food. I've got to find local farmers and get natural foods.

I never got to meet Michael Jackson, and he's gone - so to be on stage with Prince was like if Michael ... you know what I'm saying? And Prince, he's just such a warmhearted guy. He's so humble. He's such a spiritual man. I like his style.

If I can't pronounce it, I don't want to put it in my body. Everything to me now is organic, natural, right from the farm.

I'll be staying in touch and keeping my fans and friends updated on my progress. I'm looking forward to getting back on the road to give the people what they want,

My goal for these next few years, for the next forever, is to try and keep positive things around me. If somebody is coming at me with negative stuff, just back away from me.

I'd love to get into one of Tyler Perry's movies - play a little role, have a little character. I don't care. But more than two lines! More than two words!

I love the smaller clubs. I love the theaters. I love the festivals. There are things I don't like. At certain theaters, people can't get up and dance.

I'm grateful to be alive, because I really did not think I was going to be alive, onstage performing songs.

I'm not trying to be a pop singer.

You're not flaming Bob the Builder, Poppy. There are some things is you can't fix.

Everything on my body turned real dark. My toes, under my feet, inside my mouth, under my tongue - I just turned really dark. I'm still here, but it's gonna take a while to get back to normal. Chemo kills all the good cells along with the bad.

There ain't no way I'm going to be droppin' nothing. If I was in my twenties, maybe. But now I try to keep it looking decent. I don't want to expose too much of my bare ass.

At first, they told me it was just bile-duct cancer, but once they went in, they removed the gallbladder, the head of my pancreas, and a foot-and-a-half of my small intestine, and built me another bile duct and connected it to my stomach. It turned out to be pancreatic cancer, stage two, so, very aggressive.

I'm not going to sing something if it doesn't make sense to me, or if it makes me look like I'm begging someone or I'm weak, because that's not me.

I'm telling the story, and if I can't tell the story, I'm not going to sing it. And if I don't agree with the story, and if I got to sing something that portrays me as something I'm not, then I'm not going to sing it either. I didn't even want to sing Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools.'

I chose not to put a wig on. The reason why I chose to come out with the cancer thing is because there's somebody out there who can see that all sickness isn't unto death. That it's something you can't change at that point in time, so you just got to go with it. Don't be ashamed. Don't be ashamed of looking at yourself.

Every time I do a gig, my goal is getting new fans.

Phish is such a good band; they just make stuff up as a jam band.

I was onstage one night and was singing. I hit one note, and I just doubled over. It was like being punched hard in the back. I couldn't put my back up on the plane seat because of the pain. I got massages, thinking it was muscle spasms. The doctor told me at the time that it was my pancreas. I didn't even know.

I miss my hair, but I feel like going out there with some fake braids wouldn't be right. I want to be the most genuine performer I can be.