Being a musician, you want to be able to do the hardest stuff there is. People would think it's classical, but in classical, it's all on the page and the difficulty is keeping up with the music.

I was brought up to be a gentleman. That means you know how to walk, talk and dress the part.

I watch my contemporaries, and they love to live in the studio and I don't. I have a life. I treat it as a 9-to-5. I try to create something new every day, and then I get on with my life.

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.

When it's your chance to step up to the plate, just hit it out of the park, and everybody will forget about everything that came before.

By 17, I had a whole band that would go in and play. It was called Spontaneous Inventions, after a Bobby McFerrin album.

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.