I hate the pigeonholing that's happened in the music business in the last 30 years.

I was probably six years old when I first sang before an audience.

When somebody shows up and they believe in you, it makes all the difference.

I started as a writer and when I sent my demos out everyone wanted to know who was singing and if that person wanted a record deal.

As I've gotten older, now I've really got to back that up with record sales. Anytime showed me that I could still have some of those elements I wanted, but you still have to come with hit after hit after hit.

It doesn't matter the genre or type of art, if it's authentic there's an apparent beauty to it and as an artist, that's very inspiring.

Lionel Richie told me forget about the critics. But if you come back with hit after hit, you don't have to worry about anything.