I started when I was really young. I was playing classical music when I was 4 and when I turned 11 I started to write pop music. I guess you could say it was my intellectual evolution and my love of music began to change.

I dropped out of NYU, moved out of my parent's house, got my own place, and survived on my own. I made music and worked my way from the bottom up.

I'm not interested in people positioning me next to other artists.

My work as an artist is completely separate from my work as a philanthropist.

I have to be really honest: People who say they can't escape the paparazzi are full of sh*t. Let me just be the artist to throw everybody under the bus. I don't spend lots of money on houses or lots of cars, but I do spend money on security and they never find me.

What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.

I have kids who buy tickets for my show... How could I take their money and ignore their problems?