What was it like growing up in the Gill household?

I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 140 miles from Detroit. I came from a musical background. My father was a Baptist preacher. He sang in church as a child and identified the same vocal skill in me. He used to instruct me to lead the choir from about the age of nine and ten. I always had a fondness for music. I used to sit under our table in the hallway, where the telephone sat, with the radio. I’d fold my legs up, put my elbows on my knees and listen to rock’n’roll, soul, R&B, country and western.
My father co-founded the Friendship Baptist church. He led his own church in Allegan, Michigan, we made that dreadful journey there each Sunday, it took about an hour, it was in the middle of the country. Later our membership transferred to the Mount Zion Baptist church, which I am still a member of today. I’ve always loved singing. I used to sing in school. I knew from a young age how very therapeutic it could be, a means to escape into a fantasy world, and away from any pressing problems or issues.

You started your secular singing career with La Jolie Filles (The Pretty Girls)?

We were a five piece. We started out in eight grade in junior high and entered a talent show in our ninth. We wanted to be the Shirelles, so we sang, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.