It's understanding the intention of a composer that allows a producer and an arranger to make those moments speak.
Black music has increased my enjoyment of what I do. It has increased my range, my ability to reach into myself and accept myself.
A lot of my success comes from black music. It's something I'm very proud of.
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?
Considering the amount of information we're bombarded by, it's amazing if a song can transcend time.
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.
When you have great songs that are going to live longer than the composers, everything you can do to bring those different elements and nuances out, serve the song.
No matter how great we get with digital formats of instrumentation, nothing really quite duplicates the real thing.
The Top 40 is geared toward 20 and under, not 20 and up. That's the audience I'm geared to.
The whole industry evolves around a great song.
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.
You're presuming too much by using the word legacy - presuming that someone is going to care.
I'm proud of my mentors. Ray Charles is the strongest influence on me as a singer.
To sing along with Stevie Wonder, you had to make your voice do things it was not accustomed to doing.
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.
Sinatra, here's a guy who plays a tough guy in all his movies, but was allowed to be vulnerable when he stepped up to the microphone.
When I was invited to sing with Pavarotti, I had about two weeks to learn Italian.
