The Florida sound would probably be best defined as heavy bass with high energy dance records. There's a strong Caribbean heritage in Florida which features a lot of uptempo music, and the music accents the sexy, body-oriented sound.
I like to watch 'Grey's Anatomy' when I'd doing cardio. But, sometimes I do need good music to get me moving. I like high energy songs by artists like Justin Timberlake and Rihanna.
My parents were in high school and college in the '80s, so let's just say I've heard some stuff, man. We listen to a lot of music and watch lots of great films, but the real context they provide from that era is about politics.
I've been playing music all my life, from being a choir soloist at Symphony Hall as a youngster to playing in bands through high school and college at Kent State. Went in the service at 17, out before I was 21.
I grew up listening to so many different things, and having a dad that also sang, music was innately born into me. Going through high school and college, I'd go see anyone who came to town, it didn't matter the genre.
My junior high school teacher, Bennie Williams, was really more than a music teacher. She taught us poetry. She helped us put on school shows. She did all these kinds of things to help us stand in each other's shoes, and it was a really powerful time. That's when I discovered that I could sing.
The majority of the high schools and the public schools in N.Y.C. don't even have band programs. Hip-hop in a lot of ways is an outgrowth of a lack of instruments and a desire to play music, so we can't really fault the kids for that.
I worked as a head cook at courthouses and high schools. I left it behind when I started getting into my music real heavy.
The music industry is an unforgiving place, and it shall unceremoniously show you the door if you can't perform to high standards.
As long as I've known music, Bose has been the company to listen to. They're a lot of fun to work with, but also being able to associate yourself with such a high-quality product is great.
Once, the arts were opera, ballet, classical music, and everything else deemed highbrow.
Yet, it ought to be obvious that good music generally occupies a higher plane that mere politics. Great writers can express moods through melody and capture experiences we share most powerfully - love, lust, longing; joy, rage, fear; triumph, yearning and confusion.
I think music is the highest form of healing.
The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority. Sometimes I'll get extremely technical, and other times I'll just kind of go with the gods of music.
Why I got into music was James Taylor, so to see him be a real down-to-earth guy that's unbelievably talented... then to hear him sing those lyrics of 'What I'm Thankful For,' which is a song Ms. Yearwood and I got to write together, that was definitely a highlight of my recording life.
I used to babysit. And the kids I babysat were huge Hilary Duff fans, and so we used to have dance parties every day to her music. So I am very familiar with the albums of Miss Hilary Duff.
I did Hilary Duff's 'With Love' music video-slash-fragrance ad.
The music played most around St. Louis was country-western and swing. Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of the country stuff on our predominantly black audience. After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff.
Country hillbilly music I love. Always have.
My parents were on the Grand Ole Opry. They traveled all over the country singing hillbilly music. That's what they called it back then. They were friends with Roy Acuff and the Delmore Brothers and the Carter Family. And all of my brothers and sisters who were older than me started on the show, after they were big enough to hold a guitar and sing.
