It's really a sad story, and I liked that. The songs on this album talk about relationships in every aspect.
I have the time needed to support the album and tour.
A lot of my solo albums were produced by different people who had their idea of what songs I should do, and they had me doing a lot of ballads.
The first album I ever bought with my own money was 'Ten.' Every single song reminds me of my childhood.
It's a spirit that was given me and the relationships and meeting all these great people, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong; through Max I met a lot of people too. My first album was with Benny Carter.
One of my favorite albums in the world is Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska.' Each song has this very distinct character who has something profound to say.
My first album after 'American Idol' I did with Desmond - we paid for it together, and we literally were together working on it every day for a year and half, just writing. We wrote in New York, Nashville, L.A., Sweden - we wrote with some other amazing songwriters like Diane Warren, too.
I've recorded 25 or 30 albums. I know that sometimes when you work with producers who are kinda dictators, it doesn't help you make a better record.
I knew I was destined to do a solo album, but when I did that first album in 1978, I had no idea it was going to be that well received.
I've started working on a new album, I'm writing a new book... there are a lot of good things on the horizon.
