My mother was a champion high-jumper. My three brothers are basketball players. We've all been very athletic.

In Jamaica we had the English way of schooling from the age of four, so when I got to America I was already a few years advanced because I started school at the age of three-and-a-half rather than six and my grades moved up accordingly. In America, they start you at school at six because the grades are different. I had to take a test and they didn't know what to do with me. It wasn't that I was any smarter; I had just started younger. All of a sudden I was jumped from eighth to tenth grade. They said I was very smart, but I was only smart in languages, really.

Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe in that. You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.

Some songs come from my head, some from my throat, but there will always be moments when it is an injection of the soul.

I believe in individuality, that everybody is special, and it's up to them to find that quality and let it live.

Survival is my primary instinct...it's out of my control. It's stronger than me. It's an outside force, a voice that says 'do this for your life or it will devour you.'

I don't take the English press seriously at all because all they want is dirt... I hate them.