I get influenced by stuff that isn't even music.

It's when you are trying to make something that is "authentic" as opposed to real - people who appreciate music for the wrong reasons tend to compartmentalize stuff.

I'm conscious enough that how I'm singing is not my own accent.

I am quite a slow writer. I can only work under pressure; I wait until the last minute.

Leadership is character in action.

My absolute favorite song I've ever written is "This Is Where We Came In." It's a nudge at younger listeners, cause at one time you could go into a cinema halfway through a film and then stay through and pick up where you left off.

If I sang the way I talk it would sound like "Tommy Steele sings Muddy Waters!"