I need instant gratification.

I was raised on the streets, in hot, steamy Brooklyn, with stifled air.

In the music business, we all do different things, but we sit there and admire other people who can write a song differently or sing differently. It's not so competitive.

It's very often the artist who gives a voice to the voiceless by speaking up when no one else will.

When I was maybe 5 or 6 years old, the neighborhood girls would sit on the stoop and sing. I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That's what's fun about recording with an orchestra.

. . . it is true, even people with painful childhoods. . . grow up to be more interesting people. So, there's always a positive to a negative.