This record has a lot of influences that I'd love to cover, like Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind and Fire. Maybe I'll do some covers of my major influences during my live show.

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.

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

Having a college degree gave me the opportunity to be... well-rounded. Also, the people I met at the university, most of them are still my colleagues now. People I've known for years are all in the industry together.

Even before I became a recording artist, I did other things in music. I was a teacher, I did studio work, and I was an arranger and a producer.

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 grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.