I believe in my writing.

Keep your family and old friends around you. That's what I had done and that's what saved my life when it came to being famous.

I am a musician. My passion for music has obliterated everything in its path for my entire life. Whenever there was a choice between music and anything else, music won hands down every time. No one person or material thing could ever come close to the feeling I get when the music is right.

You know, when I did 'American Idol' the three times, I tried to tell these kids you have to tell the story of the lyric.

I come from nowhere Brooklyn, New York. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These days Williamsburg is kind of a hip area, but when I grew up there, the taxi drivers wouldn't even go over the bridge, it was so dangerous.

Yeah, I'm old as the hills and you would think I'd be out to pasture someplace because I've done everything, but nothing has changed.

The melody seems to have gone to the country. The country music seems to still have melody and interesting lyrics. But pop music, you've got to really listen hard to somebody who's doing a good melody and a good lyric.