When I was first learning songs, I'd have a favorite song, and I'd take the chords and twist them around. I'd learn the chords and then play them backward. That was my first experimenting with writing a song.

I fell in love with the piano. I knew it was me. I was dying to play.

My mom always said, 'Don't date a guy who thinks he's prettier than you.'

I have my mother who is an Irish-Italian, and my father who is African, so I have the taste buds of an Italian and the spice of an African.

You've got to love what's yours.

I love Bono. I really respect what he has done for Africa and how he has used his fame to do good in the world. I hope I can do half as much in my life.

I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I'm discovering who I am.

A lot of times I watch TV and I watch film and there's so many things I'd love to talk about that I feel don't get the opportunity to be shown. Sometimes things become very stereotypical and one-sided, and I feel like it's such a colorful world.

Adam Levine and I remade the Rolling Stones' classic Wild Horses, and it is right up my alley, that whole style. It has a style of its own but still stays very true to the classic arrangement, and I love it.

Once people see this 'Unplugged,' I just want them to feel the spontaneity, to feel passionate... I want you to see another side of me, that's free, and feel where my head is, where whatever happens, happens. I want you to feel inspired.

I believe Aids is the most important issue we face, because how we treat the poor is a reflection of who we are as a people.

If I want to be alone, some place I can write, I can read, I can pray, I can cry, I can do whatever I want - I go to the bathroom.

When I was younger, studying classical music, I really had to put in the time. Three hours a day is not even nice - you have to put in six.

The last thing I want is to walk into my house after a long day and see all the Grammys and awards. It would make me feel weird.

Stevie Wonder's records introduced me to '70s soul when I was 12 or 13.

Soul music is timeless.

Sometimes I've gotten photographs back and people have literally shaven off pieces of me, and I tell them to put it back.

Simplicity makes me happy.

Not because I'm trying to be fabulous, but I love those big crazy Jackie O shades.

My mother is an actress, and she used to drag me from theater to theater and reading to reading.

My mom is definitely my rock.

It's not until I hear songs that I've done, that I realize how much of an inspiration music from the '60s and '70s has been.

If I didn't love it, I would not record it.

I've always been strong-minded, but I wonder.