If there's ever been a dark moment in my life... well, I wanted to check out. Music was a big escape.

Later in life, the memories I have of my mother are of constant work balanced with caring for my ailing father.

Love you all the time, 'cause when I close my eyes, I still can see your smile, it's bright enough to light my life

Stevie Wonder always smells so good... I'm like a DEA dog, I can smell people a block away!

I wrote poetry, which got me into lyrics. Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Elton John pulled me into pop. I started singing with a band - just for fun - when I was 17. And pretty soon, I was thinking I could sing pop in English as well as Spanish.

Because it's one thing when you - oh, I love this tune. But then when you go to sing it, it's got to have something really personal. Then down to 25, and then to pick the final ones I just picked the ones that were more personal, that had something to do with my life.

When I went to do "Carson" that night, they wanted us to do two songs, but we were a brand new band. "Conga" hadn't even hit the top 10 yet. They go, "Do you think you could do something that people know, because we want you to do a second song, but not two originals, because we don't want to lose the audience, just in case."