From the Chicago Sun-Times (December 27, 1987)

• "I'd put my ear to the speaker in my bedroom and run back here to the piano and play - left and right hands together. Classical music gave me a good foundation. When I was little, I could play 15 classical pieces. I would put a ragtime beat to jazz them up for fun."
• "My friends and I are kinda like your typical all-American teens. We have fun going to movies, malls, and just hanging out at someone's house. They haven't changed towards me, 'cause I haven't changed towards them. Everyone has their own interests, you know, some of the guys are into their sports - we all go cheer them on. I have friends that are into tennis and we'll go to their matches. So, I'll perform and my friends will come see me. It's all kind of the same thing."
• "If I ever want to be cheered up, I read my fan mail. It's a lot of fun. I've been pretty much keeping up with the writing back, even if it's a short note to thank them. The age group is 10-24. One young girl wrote, 'I like to sing and now I know I can make it at a young age if I work hard.' It's good, kids relate to me because I'm close to their age and it gives them hope to keep following what they want to do."
• "I'm not an untouchable person. I often pull people on stage to dance. Or, I'll jump into the audience in the middle of a number like 'Only In My Dreams'."
• "I saw Kenny G open for a Whitney Houston concert, and he walked around the stadium playing his saxophone - it was wild!"
• "Some people don't realize what's involved. They think you wake up one morning and find an envelope with Ed Mc Mahon's picture on it saying 'You have won a recording contract.' What they don't realize is that how much work you put in you get back."

(about her songwriting)

• "I'm very observant of everything that goes on around me. I get ideas from reading teen romances, movies, friends, my older sisters - and sometimes a phrase will spark me to make up a story."

(about writing a fan letter to George Michael)

• "I know I would have died if I would have gotten a response, but I didn't. I understand that he must get 1,000 letters a day."

(about performers sustaining themselves over time)

• "They don't have attitudes. They've been around a long time because they didn't get wrapped up in it - they know what their responsibilities are, they know why they're doing it - because they love music. The people who have attitudes are the ones you run across who have one record out and suddenly think they're it. Even having your picture in magazines is meaningless unless you really know that it's still a lot of work and there are responsibilities and you're not going to make instant money, then you're not going to get caught up in it. My real concern is being in the studio and being on stage - that's the fun."

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