Being at college, I think that's the time when you really start searching for things outside yourself.

I'm in the trenches; I do the best work I can always do. Having said that, the way that what I do converges with the outside world is fascinating to me. Because it ebbs and flows. People's interest and understanding, it changes all the time.

I definitely dislike pomposity and artifice. I hope that I'm not that. Once I write a song, it belongs to the world, and the way people perceive it, it's cool.

I was very inspired by my mother. She was a vocal teacher and sang in a band, and my first memories of her were going out with her on the local circuit.

I was just like a 21st century person waiting to be born, and this is the medium that I thrive in. And I feel stronger now than I did any time since I've been a teenager - I mean, musically, creatively.

I was a pioneer in MTV and I was there from the very beginning. So I saw how that developed and how loose it was and how much fun it was in its looseness. And I was influenced a lot by that.

The difference between me and other people in my generation is instead of saying the Internet's killing the record business, I say, 'Who cares about the record business, the Internet is enhancing music.'

I wanted to show the world, and myself too, what I can do. I came up in the world of Philadelphia soul, but I'm fluent in a lot of languages musically and I like working with different people from different generations.

I have an English family and I've lived in England for years.

I grew up in a very racially integrated place called Pottstown. It was an agricultural / industrial town which has since become a suburb of Philadelphia. I grew up basically in a black neighborhood.

Traditionally, duos get accused of lots of things.

Everybody who I ever cared about has told me that they like my music: Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Al Green, The Spinners, Smokey Robinson. Everybody that matters.

Smokey Robinson is one of my heroes as a singer and songwriter; a major influence on my own music from the very start.

Chronic Lyme causes arthritis, heart problems, stroke - even death.

If you take a bunch of superstars and put them in a room where they don't have their assistants and entourage, it's funny to see what happens.

I'd like to see more crossover between white and black music. That's something I've been advocating for years.

Yes, I travel in unusual circles. George Osborne and his wife Frances are my cousins.

Success and failure are equally surprising.

Any song I don't feel good about, I shelve. Anything you ever hear me sing, it's because I want to.

The whole American pop culture started in Philadelphia with 'American Bandstand' and the music that came out of that city.

The late 20th century had just enough communication abilities to allow superstar-ness and communality to happen. It was a musical renaissance that rivals the visual one that happened in the 1400s.

I always say the same thing - believe in what you do, do it, and don't veer away from the truth of it.

Art is a continuum.

If you work hard and you're good, you can build something for yourself.