The biggest honor of my career was when I won R&B Artist of the Year back in the 1970s. I look at that as a major honor.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.
I was very fortunate in all of my career in television to have a lot of things that received a lot of awards recognition.
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.
I've had the honor to be in sessions with great artists.
The first award I ever won was for Best New Artist from the ACMs, so they always will hold a special place in my heart.
I've spent my life pursing excellence as an artist, which is what I always wanted to do anyhow.
To get to record and to do things with the legends, and with the people that are your musical heroes, that's the biggest honor as an artist.
Being acknowledged for your work is always a great accomplishment, whether it's people in my city, kids in the street, all the way up to the Grammys.
Getting through high school and college was one of my greatest achievements.
I remember when I first won the Academy Award and how much I loved it. I just wish there was an award around that you could really believe in again.