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

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

I think Philadelphia has been underrated over the years as a musical region.

What I do isn't black music, it's just my music.

Smokey Robinson is one of my heroes as a singer and songwriter, a major influence on my own music from the very start.

Every artistic form has its golden age, and unfortunately I think the golden age for whatever I do probably ended about 1990.

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.