One musician listens to another musician, and you get inspired and then you do your thing, but it's yours.

That's a big gift when people say to you that a song helped them or brought them to some place in their life where they needed to be.

The way I was raised and the people that I grew up around for the most part were very humble people, and I appreciate all that they taught me, and their energy and their magnanimity help keep me grounded.

I've been compared to hundreds of artists, which just goes to show you that I'm not any one thing at all.

I really didn't know a lot of rock 'n' roll until I moved to L.A. Before that, when I was in New York, I grew up listening mostly to R&B and soul and jazz.

My mom and dad would take me all over. One night we'd be at the Apollo watching James Brown, and then I'd be at the Joffrey Ballet. It was that kind of scene.

We're getting so pulled in by computers and technology, and our kids have their face in the computers all day. The human relationship is being diminished by this.