I like situations that force me to rethink things.

I thought, I'm in my late 50s now, am I ever gonna get the chance to do another album again?

I made a creativity out of that messiness.

On my Instagram, I'm always keeping a record of things being pulled down in Soho and shutters being closed. Every city - and London more than anywhere - has got to be a vibrant mix of all different things. We can't allow it to become a monoculture.

I was a magnet for people who want to take advantage of people like me, who think they're part of this life but they're not.

I was quite naïve, a boy from Southport. When I went to art college in Leeds, I lived in a basement flat, and I heard clunking on the stairs all night, and I thought it was just nurses going to work on the night shift at the local hospital! Then I found out it was all working girls upstairs. I suppose I came from a protected background and had my eyes opened wide by that side of city life.

I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates.