Music is what I love and it`s what I feel and it`s in me and to know that I can do something that I enjoy and hopefully bring some enjoyment to other people through what I do is an incrediable feeling and I am just really thankful for it
Someone said I never paid any dues.I feel my whole life was struggling, because we were poor. We were alone, we had nothing--no security. I feel I have paid my dues. I`ve been paying my dues all my life.
This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don`t ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me! (Madison Square Garden, 1995)
People all of a sudden just see me and hear me having hit records and it seems to have come out of the blue. But really I have been working towards this my whole life, and this is what I say when people say I haven`t paid my dues.
I`ve always said that my father is half black and half Venezuelan and my mother is Irish. But people don`t understand. They can`t fathom that I`m African American, Venezuelan and Irish.