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I must say that I always thought I had a voice, even when I was 4 years old.

I used to sing in the church choir. People would say it was unusual for such a small girl to have such a big voice. They would say, 'She sounds like she's grown.'

I was known as the little girl with the big voice.

When I was 10 or 11 people started saying there was something special about my voice. But when I was 15 or 16 is when I really thought my hobby could become my career.

When I was 5 years old I started singing in church and I hated my voice because I sounded like a grown woman, not a child. I was ashamed of it.

Before adolescence I had an incredible voice. Like when I was 12, 13, 14 - I was taking acting classes, I was painting, I was making music, I was taking photographs. I was kind of exploding creatively, and then something about adolescence really just ground that out of me.

By the time I was five, I was a little diva.

At the age of 11 I was about 6 ft. tall and my voice had completely broken. That caused problems. I was this gangly, spotty, very unattractive kid. I wasn't cool and I wasn't a nerd. I didn't even want to fit in with anyone.

When I was young, my voice was so strong, and I would annoy people because I had such a loud little voice. And then it changed, and I thought I wouldn't be able to sing again, because I thought you had to sing like Christina Aguilera to be a singer.