Considering the amount of information we're bombarded by, it's amazing if a song can transcend time.
A lot of my success comes from black music. It's something I'm very proud of.
When I started studying for the arias it was like going into training for a heavyweight title fight.
It's an important thing to remember where you came from.
I was blown away by the control and the range that I was hearing. I'm listening to Pavarotti and thinking, What the hell have I been doing with my voice all these years?
I'm proud of my mentors. Ray Charles is the strongest influence on me as a singer.
One song will launch you, but you don't want to be a one-song artist.
I have friends who've tried to break into the UK, who went back with their tails between their legs. Fortunately I've had the opposite experience.
You can't make everybody love what you do, but you can know how great you feel doing it.
It's understanding the intention of a composer that allows a producer and an arranger to make those moments speak.
The whole industry evolves around a great song.
The Top 40 is geared toward 20 and under, not 20 and up. That's the audience I'm geared to.
For years I've kept a list of dream projects.
No matter how great we get with digital formats of instrumentation, nothing really quite duplicates the real thing.
I kept looking to do songs that were written years ago and would live or outlive all of us, and the one thing they had in common was Sinatra.
It's a combination of melody and lyrics, not one without the other. It's a confluence of these different elements that makes something powerful.
Whoever best serves the song is going to be served by the song.
Dr. King is so inspiring, so impressive, so moving as a human being.
There are certain people who have become better artists, but they're brilliant at marketing. I think someone who's been phenomenal like that is Madonna.
A lot of the greatest compositions were made famous by Sinatra.
