Nowadays, not to say that that doesn't happen, but music is made a lot almost in a laboratory where you get one guy working in one studio, they send the file to another guy in some other part of the world, they send it back and then they send it this way and that way. Musicianship is kind of - there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, some great music is made that way.

I think that there have been times, especially with writing songs, where you sit in a room with somebody, and they could be a very well-respected songwriter, but for whatever reason, the chemistry is just not right.

You have to be willing to get back on that horse and try it again if the mood strikes. That was one of the great pieces of wisdom that I got early on in my career in terms of being blocked. If you get to a creative roadblock, you can sit there and rack your brain.

I credit my collaborators for allowing me to grow. Without them I wouldn't have that opportunity.

The collaboration wish list is huge, very long. It goes from people like Elton John, for whom I have an unbelievable amount of respect, to Snoop Dogg, whom I also respect a great deal.

Barry Manilow is a guy who's had a tremendous longevity that few have had in the music business. I'm in awe of what he does.

I'd probably end up doing the same thing over and over. We're creatures of habit. We know what we know. With collaboration...and I'm not just talking about music, I'm talking about in life - if you're a good listener and you have your ears open, and to be a good collaborator you have to be able to listen, you can learn something from somebody else.