So when I realised I could sing for a living - do what I loved and be paid for it - I thought, 'This is unbelievable. Unbelievable!' And that feeling has never left me.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I knew I could sing. That one thing I did believe in was that I could sing, but then constantly getting rejected, it started to get me down. But my voice was always there and my dream and my ambition was always there when I went through bad times.
Singing is what got me into everything and made me fall in love with this industry.
Even if you can't relate to what I'm singing, I hope you can believe in it and see it as something that it is real.
Singing as a full-time job was not something I had given a lot of thought to and I had no clear notion of the money to be made in it.
I have to say that when I first started singing, I didn't think it was a very noble profession. I worked for people like Robert Kennedy and I thought: 'Wow, that's what it's about. That's how you change the world.' And then I watched that disintegrate in front of my eyes, and it was very discouraging.
I've always wanted to sing, just as I've always known that one day I would have my own niche in the annals of song. It was a feeling I had.
Singing has always been a part of my life. I started at Opryland singing, and I realized I could make a living at it. I thought it was something I would grow out of. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. Everything's just sorta fallen into place.
It never dawned on me at any particular time of my life that people are paid tremendous money to sing.
I just had to find something else to fulfill me. Always being a singer and writing, it was a blessing. My brother started making music that was the kind of music I always saw myself singing.
My energy to sing, I get it from my singing. Singing was not a reason to make a living. This is the only thing I wanted to do.