I was never much of a one to win prizes... and certainly never placed too much value on their acquisition.

I don't take myself as seriously as some people think, and I'd hate anyone to think I was preaching. That's the last thing I want.

Life is not quantifiable in terms of age, but I suppose in my fifties I am more grounded and more at ease in my own skin than when I was younger. I have a confidence that I didn't have before from the experiences I've had.

There's so much stigma around HIV/AIDS. It's a challenging issue, and the people that already have been tested and know their status find it very, very hard to disclose their status, to live with that virus, and to even seek out the kind of information they need. This experience of going to South Africa a decade ago really woke me up to the scale of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, how it was affecting women and their children. I haven't been able to walk away from it.

Each individual is as individual as their fingerprints, and I think that's extraordinary.

I also started writing songs because I had this burning activity in my heart and had to express myself.

You know, I would say that songwriting is something about the expression of the heart, the intellect and the soul.