I have a deep affinity for New Orleans - its like a second home to me - they treat me like I'm their own.

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.

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.

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.

The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his old wife.

Those nights lying alone are not discontinuous with this cold hectic dawn. It is who I am.

My karma just ran over my dogma.

We make our own truths and lies....Truths are often lies and lies truths.

It's not what you have lost, but what you have left that counts.

You forget why you're fighting - you can lose sight of why you're doing it all.

There's always going to be a need for activism; there's always going to be a need for you and me doing the right thing, being very Lincoln-sonian in looking out for each other.

You can't predict what someone else is going to do and when someone else is going to leave

I'm ensconced in the soul … and I look around and everything is love.

Optimism is the secret of self-reliance. Self-reliance is the secret of a dynamic power. A dynamic power is the secret of an immediate success.