I think that it can be said of a lot of artists, and myself included, that we made the same record over and over from the beginning.

As far as other instrumentalists, I used to love mellow sax players like Paul Desmond. I love piano.

My parents were music lovers and collectors. It was around.

I feel fortunate that I was able to step away from it when I wasn't interested.

I'm easily distracted by other things in the world around me.

I felt that, in retrospect, there was a time in the late Seventies, after I had a string of hits and successes, as a performer and a recording artist, that I wasn't saying anything.

I think the women - Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu - are doing new conceptual things and using their voices to create new American music.