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

My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.

A lot of what I have always done is do other singers.

The short answer is, yes, I think I have become a better singer.

I'm not a jazz singer.

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.