My family, they're story tellers. My mom is Irish, and my dad is Italian. In my family, we weren't allowed to watch TV while we ate - we had to sit around the table and tell stories about our day.
I can't watch myself in interviews. I feel like I look like a wreck. My mom is always calling me and going, 'Stop fidgeting,' and it's like, 'You have no idea what it's like, Mom.'
My mom played me all kinds of music, from Ella Fitzgerald to Celine Dion. I listened to everything growing up, old and new.
I grew up in a very relaxed environment in one sense, without many rules. My mother had a problem knowing where to draw the line, which caused a chaotic and hectic home life. A lot of people took advantage of my mom.
My mom, she was a very, very soft woman. It was hard for her to yell or even curse. But when it came to fighting for her kids, she found a strength she didn't always know she had.
My mom was a working woman. She made more money than my dad. Both my parents worked. And this was in the '60s.
My mom was on a soap opera for 40 years, so I know about love and romance.
It's usually my mom who gets on me about my facial hair. I can't grow a good mustache, so I guess it's just a neck beard. I just have trouble growing up there.
I've been dancing since the age of two. I don't really remember it, because I was little, but my mom signed me up and would put me in cute costumes. A lot of little girls get into dancing, but I loved it so much that I kept doing it.
My mom and dad passed away from cancer. Within nine months, I lost both of my folks. Immediately after that, I had a horrible betrayal where my brother, who worked for me, stole a lot of my money. He's in jail now.
Anytime there was an award show, it was a ritual where me and my mom would sit around and watch with my friends. We would make desserts and buy chips and popcorn and see what our favorite performances of the night were.
My mom put me in a Pampers commercial on TV.
I love my real mom and dad; I love them both equally.
When I turned about 14, I developed a friendship with this guy whose mom was the secretary to Ernest Angley, the faith healer, who's very popular in the Midwest. He had a television show, and he was sort of like Liberace mixed with Jerry Falwell - very glitzy, very high-tech.
My mom's a social worker, and my dad works in non-profit organisations.
I know, especially in my family, people's feelings get hurt over the tiniest things. I'm sure that's true in every family. But, for instance, one year, I came a little bit late to Thanksgiving, and I was supposed to bring a salad. And I just brought a bag of lettuce, and put it in a bowl. Five years later, I heard that my mom was incensed.
My mom beat us until she started breaking clothes hangers. Wooden clothes hangers! Once we started laughing back at her, then your spankings were through. That's the way I was raised. So, I got to be about 13 years of age when finally she quit spanking on me. But I think that it was great way to be raised.
Being broke and poor - I mean, you grow up in the environment I grew up in, grew up hard and grew up poor. Your mom doesn't have a car until you make it to the NBA... no telephone. So, I mean, if you grow up like that, and you're able to make it to this level and be blessed the way I've been blessed, it's always great to give back.
I think, as a working mom, I have to dress myself differently now. I used to wear very kind of precious clothes. Now I wear more black.
What I'm interested in is how your career choices can affect your private life, romantically or with your mom, your relatives, your friends, your hometown, and how media manipulates information - not newspapers or blogs, but the magazines that people impulse-buy that tell you what's hot and who's not.
I want to buy my mom a house; I want my family to never have to worry about anything. And I just want to have an amazing career in music, because I love to do it.
I always wanted to be a young mom, but generations of women have worked so hard so we can have a career and wait to have children. So I say carpe diem - take advantage of that.
I want to make my music and be a happy woman, a good wife, a good mom and one day hopefully have a child of my own.
Something that I think extends to a lot of African cultures is that the line between performer and audience is blurry. My mom would lead the wedding song regularly, and she isn't a professional singer. Even as an audience member, you're expected to clap and sing the response to the lead.
I speak English with my dad and Swedish with my mom; it's quite schizophrenic.
I can't resist South Indian cuisine, particularly what is prepared at home. My mom is my favourite cook. She can cook a variety of cuisines. I savour her cooking at home, and she's undoubtedly the best.
Being a mom, I am even more inspired to really help make a difference. I can't imagine what it would be like if my child didn't have a meal to eat.
My problem is that my imagination won't turn off. I wake up so excited I can't eat breakfast. I've never run out of energy. It's not like OPEC oil; I don't worry about a premium going on my energy. It's just always been there. I got it from my mom.
My mom always said if you have a gift, it is absolutely not about you. So I don't get twisted and think for one second it's all about me.
Mom and Dad were bibliophiles. Dad shared his father's love of westerns, Mom favored the likes of Zelazny and Heinlein, Howard and Burroughs. We owned several hundred books stored in trunks that comprised our portable library.
The 'believe' tattoo is because my mom always told me to believe.
I'm very much half-American - my mom is American. I grew up in Australia until I was 16, then I finished high school over here because I got into this performing arts high school.
My mom is from New Orleans. And all of my maternal relatives were there during Katrina. We couldn't even find my uncle for four months. We literally didn't know where he was. I had been there just four days before the storm hit.
My mom is actually a former prima ballerina, and all the women in my family are associated either with dance or choreography or acting, so I'm very lucky in a way because I grew up in a family of artists. I've been dancing since I was a little kid.
My mom came from such humble beginnings and especially my dad as well. He didn't go to university.
My mom had early rap records, like Jimmy Spicer. In the middle of the records was a turntable and a receiver - I used to scratch records on it - and on top was a reel-to-reel. In front of that wall were more stacks of records. It was either Mom's record or Pop's record, and they had their names on each and every one.
