Everybody who I ever cared about has told me that they like my music: Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Al Green, The Spinners, Smokey Robinson. Everybody that matters.

I was just like a 21st century person waiting to be born, and this is the medium that I thrive in. And I feel stronger now than I did any time since I've been a teenager - I mean, musically, creatively.

Any song I don't feel good about, I shelve. Anything you ever hear me sing, it's because I want to.

Being at college, I think that's the time when you really start searching for things outside yourself.

I was a pioneer in MTV and I was there from the very beginning. So I saw how that developed and how loose it was and how much fun it was in its looseness. And I was influenced a lot by that.

To me, there's two kinds of music these days. There's ephemeral music, and there's music that has lasting power and depth.

If you work hard and you're good, you can build something for yourself.