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

My guitar and singing was my way of crying.

There are certain realities we must speak of with our children that were not present when I was a child.

There are so many beautiful things that are a part of the world, and Ive always looked at life that way; Ive always tried to put on a smile and a brave front, not just for my kids but in my own life and all the difficulties that Ive gone through.

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

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.

When I was a teenager, I was fat. I was shy. I wore glasses. I had a big eyebrow and hair all over my body. They were years of torture.