“When my mama sang when I was a baby, I responded to her. My grandma told her, ‘That’s your singer.’ Singing was always around. Singing came instinctively to me. 

The women in my family were big Ella Fitzgerald fans. I remember hearing Ella and Nancy Wilson in my early years. I had trouble singing along with their melodies. Most of my career, I wanted to sing above my range. I’m a baritone, but I wish I was a tenor. Tha...