It took a child. It took a child with a blood transfusion not only to wake me up, but to wake America up, basically. I mean, I read about his plight in a doctor's office in New York in a magazine. I was so outraged about it that I contacted the family. We became friends. I helped them move to another place in Indiana. And we became constant friends.

I never really made a full album in Los Angeles before.

Someone saved my life tonight, sugar bear, you almost had your hooks in me, didn't you dear?

I don't want a Jennifer Lopez wedding or anything like that. A commitment ceremony would be a nice thing to do.

You should never take more than you give

We can't keep thinking of gay people as being ostracised; we can't keep thinking of Muslim people as being [ostracised] because of the fundamentalism that occurs in Islam. Muslim people have to do something about speaking up about it. We can't judge a book by its cover.

Sometimes when I’m flying over the Alps I think, 'that’s like all the cocaine I sniffed.'