It happened in Miami, in Coral Gables, a great big ol' Cuban wedding. It was pretty intense.

I was a teacher for a long time. I taught at a community college: voice, theory, humanities. And nowadays, music education is a dying thing. Funding is being cut more and more and more.

So, when I got the contract for my album, even though it was an English record, my manager insisted on making sure we would record in Spanish as well, and it worked out really well for me.

I might be a Cuban American, but I'm also an Afro-Cuban American.

A real active music set, based and really concentrated on what the music's all about. That's what I'm all about - singing and a really good strong music set.

I just lived it and did my own thing without looking over my shoulder. I think I'm very lucky, considering when I started everything, and the fact that I have a masters in music, and I've always worked in music, and that's what I wanted to do.

If you write songs and if you write music that's very sincere and very honest, it's pop music, but it is pop music with a lot of honesty and a lot of heart.