I had piano lessons at five and started guitar at ten, but although music and acting was always around me, my parents never pressured me into it.

The Monkees are to the Beatles what 'Star Trek' is to NASA. They are both totally valid in their contexts.

My parents were both in show business. My father was an actor, my mom an actress, and both singers, dancers and actors. They met in Los Angeles doing a play together and so I grew up in a show biz family.

In 1962 I was 17, so I was definitely watching the dance shows on television.

When I do my solo concerts, I'm used to being on the stage for two hours solid, singing 16 songs. And when I did 'Funny Thing,' I was on the stage the whole time. This is much more difficult. It's the difference between racing and sprinting. This is sprinting. And I have to learn to pace myself.

I had piano lessons at five and started guitar at ten, but although music and acting was always around me, my parents never pressured me into it.

There was never any pressure on me to go into the business, but I was always aware of it. I'd go on the set with my father and he and my mother would always be singing.