And the one job my father knew of, that he'd had experience of himself, was the Army, so he could help me in that direction.

I don't know how to write without thinking what people would want. You don't know whether they want you to be black or white, so you kind of get a gray, something in the middle.

Being sent away to boarding school at seven is as great an inspiration as any songwriter could have - to be taken away from one's family and locked away for 10 years. It does create an incredible intensity of emotion.

I try to tell one lie in every interview. It keeps people I know amused when they read the article.

I always wanted to be a Muppet.

Being British, I don't really have a way of expressing myself in conversation. Music transcends language.

No matter whether you are black or white, man or woman, gay or straight, Christian, Muslim, or Jew, we all share the same emotions, the same human condition.