Be yourself. If you're not yourself, who are you? But take advice; listen to people. If you're not listening, you're lost. You're a sheep among wolves.

I bought a dodgy gold ring off a guy in Southampton. He told me to check it was real gold by heating it up with a lighter and pressing it against my skin, because real gold doesn't burn. I still have the scar on my left hand.

We can all accept criticism of creative work, but to be publicly ridiculed for it is incredibly difficult to deal with.

I grew up in Southampton. My mum was a shop assistant; my dad was a carpenter. They broke up when I was eight.

Before my first album 'Born To Do It,' I used to DJ.

Life is all about how things rough up against you and how you see them and the vantage point you have from them.

'Fill Me In' went to number one at the same time Destiny's Child released 'Say My Name.' Having a number one over Destiny's Child at their peak was just madness to me.

I am only as good as my last song. Hits are a pension, but I don't want to rest on those songs. I want to have a future.

I'm an only child, so I got spoilt a lot. Which was a good thing.

I just keep it real, and I have written songs from my heart and performed them how they should be performed.

By fusing R&B with a U.K. garage sound, you can create energy. 'Fill Me In' showed me that.

We need to stop thinking the grass is greener on the other side and be happy with the love we have.

Writing for others is great cos you can tailor it for them.

I could never have dreamed of picking up an Ivor Novello for anything... but for Songwriter Of The Year, it's just amazing.

I recognise life is like a magnet. Positive and negative are on the opposite sides of the magnet. You can try to cut the negative part off, but it's still there. When you accept both of them, it's like, 'You know what? Don't get too identified with success or too identified with failure - just be cool with them.'

I wanna have a positive impact and bring in artists on the come-up. It gets me hyped!

My mum made the best roasts.

I was devastated by Gene Wilder's death.

My songs are a time stamp for a lot of people's lives.

I let the music do the talking, and people are still getting feelings from my songs.

I always felt like I had stability, doing things with my dad and living with my mum.

What I dislike about going to the club is if you're not behind that red rope, you feel you're missing something special going on.

I grew up on dancehall music, and it holds a strong place in my heart.

That whole 'Bo' Selecta!' thing was damaging. I played along with it; I said it was cool, I can take a joke, roll with it, so I went on the show. But it was killing me.

My grandmother and my mother raised me, but my dad made a conscious effort to be in my life - every weekend he would take me out.

The council estate I grew up on wasn't too bad.

When I started writing material, I realised you could take a ballad like Usher's 'Nice and Slow,' sing the same melody over a garage track, and everyone would be up and dancing.

Everything around me is surreal. I get picked up in cars and go to celebrity bashes, and I get sponsorship on clothes, and it's great, and I really enjoy it. But you should remember where it all started: the music. That's the key.

As much as money is important for security, for me, it is worth nothing without music.

More than meeting people and going out with girls, I'm focused on my music.

I'm a music man.

You know a date's gone really well when she's happy with nothing fancier than a Big Mac and fries!

Jessica Alba's very beautiful; so is Sienna Miller.

People use the 'love' word too early. When you've got that trust thing locked down, when you've lived together, and you know each other's good and bad qualities inside out, at that moment, you know if you truly love someone.

If you're in a good relationship, you should be able to say to your girlfriend, 'That girl walking down the street is great.'

I never let anyone know I was insecure about it - it was my own little thing - but I did have a problem being overweight. I always felt people were looking at me in a certain way as opposed to who I really was.

I like buying people little things, not flooding them with money, trying to win them.

Getting my mum a house was a really great feeling.

I'd love to reach the pinnacle where you just can't wait to get the new album by Craig David.

It's like a god-given gift that I've actually been able to go out and sing my songs.

If I couldn't sing tomorrow, I'd still write songs cos I'm passionate about that.

Certain key words, like, 'break it down,' 'this is how we do it' - they'll always end up on my tracks.

I have admiration for beautiful women.

When I grew up, I was living on a council estate overlooking a car park for a good 16 years of my life.

We tend to always want to obtain something new and something more, and we never really enjoy what we have.

If I live my life through nostalgia and what I did in the past and expect to be the new kid people have just discovered again, then unfortunately, I'm creating my own demise.

I wrote a song called 'Four Times A Lady' for Destiny's Child, and it was perfect. But then I had to spin it back and change all the lyrics to a guy's point of view cos I thought the track was too good to give away, heh heh. It's Craig David now.

Kasabian are wicked. They've got the hit songs, but it's the presence in the performance and the attitude with it that I love.

What I like about Kasabian is that it's melody driven.

I love songs, so when you're song-based, it doesn't matter which way the production leans.