I always try to be a trend setter. That's what I always tell young people when I'm giving them advice. To go with their heart and don't follow the trends.

You never know where a blessing can come from.

I play guitar, piano, bass and percussion.

Overall my race hasn't been a problem. I'm a black artist with white skin. At the end of the day you have to sing what's in your own soul.

I try to keep my ear to the streets without sacrificing who I am as an artist. If a song needs a drum machine I'll use a drum machine. If it needs a drummer, I'll use a real drummer.

OK, so truth hurts - but what else does truth do?

I would walk down the hall with my guitar and play for anyone that would listen. As a young kid I was really driven and I was going to make it happen no matter what.

I still have a passion for the music, which is such a beautiful thing. I still wake up in the middle of the night out of a dream and have a melody in my head, and run to my piano.

I have enough love to last me a lifetime! Thank God I'll never lose my imagination and my passion. That's really what it is. I'm still passionate about what I do.

I dont plan on stopping anytime soon.

My first album came out in 1979.

Feeling powerless is the result of yielding to fearful thinking.

Inside of a ring or out ain't nothing wrong with going down. It's staying down that's wrong.

Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.

The mind can be trained to relieve itself on paper.

I'd like to think I did well. I'd like to think that, if I had a must-win game, the guys I played with would want me to have the ball. But no, I don't think I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

I've never been damaged or hurt by press. It's just that I think it's unfair to use your name in media.

You want some? Come get some!

The Seinfeld motto: No learning, no hugging

The ones that make it complicated never get congratulated

I think I was 8 or 9 when I did my first play. It was at a community level, but that's when I knew that this is what I loved doing.