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I sang in church choir all my life, through elementary school, junior high and high school.

I sang in choir as a kid.

I sang in the choir for years, even though my family belonged to another church.

I sang on Church Street, every place that had a stage.

We went to church every Sunday. When I was a kid, the only time I sang was around my family.

Sam Cooke had a huge influence on me. He left the gospel field at one point and went into the secular, and he had this huge hit, 'You Send Me.' Irma, my older sister, and I heard 'You Send Me' on the radio while we were driving through the South one night. We had to stop the car. We got out and danced around the car out on the highway.

I was a kid, and I remember my mother singing. She was also a radio soap opera actress, but my mother sang.

I always sang when I was little-bitty girl. I sang all the time. And then I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee, so I sang in a show at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. You know, they have all those variety shows where Dollywood is. And I sang there and yodeled and clogged, but I never wrote my own songs.