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I hated my brief fame. We had TV vans camped outside my house, reporters hounded me... people i'd know for years started treating me differently.

I'm one of the highest-paid television people in the world. I feel like I've made a difference in my viewers' lives, that I've been influential.

When I first became recognizable from appearing on television, I abused my notoriety as much as I possibly could, at the expense of both my health and personal relationships.

I think the fact that I was raised in show business, in New York City, in the '50s, that's affected my personality to the point that I'm a little different.

Switching the public's perception and view of me was, and still is, kind of a challenge to get them to see me outside of a character that I played on TV for so long.

I believe I became one of the first singers to be launched via television exposure. I guess I was a new kind of musical stylist for a new kind of media.

My fame is due to broadcast television.

Being famous hasn't changed my perception of myself - I've just grown up.

I was told at first that being different was a bad thing. Everywhere I went, it was just, 'You're too different'... And it turned out that being different was the best thing that ever happened to my career. It is why people travel to my shows. It's why people want to hear my story and buy my book.

I've been accustomed to being famous and having a certain level of attention for 14 years, but in the last few months, it's changed. It's like on the arcade game, I've gone up to the next level.