They used to talk about it in shop class, say, 'That kid right there can sing,' and I was going, like, 'I wonder who they're talking about?'

There's a tendency to make more money at concerts. That's from a financial standpoint. Night clubs have a better feel, better contact between the artist and the audience.

Before I knew it, I was singing, 'I'm so tired of being alone,' and that's Al right there. From then, my attitude was, 'Let Otis be Otis and James be James. I'm not going to emulate them anymore.'

I was knocking on people's doors. I knocked on a white couple's door, and I told them, I says, 'Excuse me, but I've been born again.' The guy said, 'Hon, call security. There's a little black guy here talking about how he been born again. Call the police.'

I had no sense of having reached some goal because I was an etoile at the Paris Opera. My ambition, if you can call it that, was to discover and learn and be excited by what I was doing. If I didn't have that, I would find it elsewhere.

The Stepfather' was the first time I sort of carried a film, or led in a film, and doing it was fun, and I felt very special. Afterwards, though, I was terrified. I just thought, 'Wow, this is basically going to be about me. If this film is a success or a failure, a lot of it's on me!'

I think the best songs are being written by the very under-stated, under-appreciated indie artists. The thing that separates them from mainstream success is they either consciously or unknowingly refuse to deliver on a big chorus.

Even though I've had the body of work I've had, and the success I've had, I do not rest on my laurels whatsoever.