Music is being treated as one big karaoke machine.

It just felt like the right time to focus on solo material.

I'm really happy that I got to work with such fresh talent. In a day when record companies are not particularly good at encouraging young, talented songwriters to come forward and get exposure, I think it's important to give tomorrow's songwriters the opportunity.

I find it very, very hard. He was part of the fabric of my life. We were kids together, and teenagers. We spent the whole of our lives with each other because of our music.

Lots of people aren't comfortable with silences. They feel they've got to fill the dead air.

I haven't really met anyone else who has influenced me, but you never know, it could happen next year or next month. I just like to go with the spur of the moment.

If even a small portion of the praise that is bestowed on Michael Jackson now in death was given to him last year, in life, he might well still be with us.