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As a child, I experienced black culture as many people did in America: on the TV, radio, and stages.

The one thing I've learned, getting out to all those foreign and domestic locales, is that people in every country of the 'civilized' world wish - either secretly or openly - that they had the expressiveness, the flair, the I'm-so-glad-to-be-me spirit that black folks have made a part of American life.

When I was 24 I went to Nigeria and it was such a culture shock, growing up in Australia and suddenly being the only white man in this unit full of black men.

Historically, black music has influenced other cultures and other genres and created other genres.

If you were black, you experienced prejudice. It wasn't a real horrible thing for us; we went through it. We noticed it mostly in the South and in Las Vegas, where we couldn't stay in the hotels where we entertained. But that began to change.

I've got to where am in life not because of something I brought to the world but through something I found - the wealth of African culture.

When I got near teen age, I was so happy with my friends and the African-American culture that I couldn't imagine not being part of it.

The older I grow the more I see the influence of my family on my life. I didn't always see it. It was up to our parents to see that we had our education in a town that hadn't yet realized what racial prejudice was but actually knew and practiced it on occasion.

I got exposed to so many different cultures and people.