I grew up playing with boys in the yard and my brother in the backyard and boys in the schoolyard.
Influenced by him, and probably even more so by my brother Theodore (a year older than me), I soon became interested in biology and developed a respect for the importance of science and the scientific method.
I had very big lips growing up, so my brother started to call me Scooter Fish because he decided a scooter fish has big lips.
If you are in a band like my brother, Rudolf, who is in the Scorpions, then you have a kind of umbrella and you cover each other. You have five people to discuss things with and you are all in the same boat, and therefore make much wiser choices.
It was a real honor to be able to work with someone like that that I've been watching since I was a kid. I mean, to play his brother left some people scratching their heads but something about it really worked.
My dad, who is a screenwriter, showed me all these great movies. He showed me 'E.T.' when I was 2-years-old, and I just kind of progressed from there. It was also my brother. We'd always watch movies together, and he'd do these voices and he'd always want to do skits and he'd come up with stuff with me.
What, do you think I'm here to be second place, brother?
My father read 'The New York Times,' my mother did secretarial work, we had a dog, we had a garden, I had a brother.
My father took my mother, me, and my brother from Sicily to New York. He got us one-way tickets but booked himself a return flight. He dumped us with my mother's parents, who had just arrived from Italy, and abandoned us. That was 1986. I didn't see or speak to him for another 12 years. That's cruel.
I've made three studio albums and one live one with my brother. It's melodic singer-songwriter acoustic-rock music.
My mother's brother is a very good singer. My grandfather took up classical singing lessons and learnt to play the harmonium.
My mother was a single mom, and she was a claims adjuster at an insurance company. She actually dropped out of school - she was going to become a registered nurse - because she had to take care of me and my brother.
Now that I live in Los Angeles, if I meet somebody from Detroit, it's like there's this brother- or sisterhood, where we're real folks.
On Sunday, we will Skype relatives - my brother lives in America, my best friend is in Canada, and Ryan's family are all in Australia.
I was a militant smoker, and in my case, I think I particularly used smoking because what I felt was a kind of politically correct big brother assault on smoking.
For me, calling my mom really helps soothe me when I'm spiraling. Having someone to talk to, whether it's a therapist, your brother, or a friend, can be such a positive thing.
I'd have probably gone to Michigan. Only because one of my friends, Vada Murray, who passed away, went to Michigan and as a freshman and sophomore he was my big brother at Moeller.
My brother went on to have a long and sordid career.
I've always thought that a lot of the problems in the world would be solved if a spaceship did arrive, then anyone with one head and two arms and two legs would be your brother! It wouldn't matter where they were from or what they believed or anything. It might be good for us.
On a bus ride through China, my family and I had talked for hours before a police officer boarded to conduct an inspection. My mother and brother couldn't speak Chinese, so they pretended to be deaf and mute, and none of the Chinese passengers said anything, sparing us.