Playing on the streets of Iraq, or in Israel or the Gaza strip, I'd sing angry protest songs against war. People would say, 'Make us clap, make us dance, and laugh and sing.' It really made me think about the importance of happy music. ↗
There are so many things to be worried about, and I wanted to make a record that people could put on, and it would lift them up the way the sun did for me each day. ↗
I have been the subject of ridicule. People talk about me and they don't know me and this is an opportunity to tell my story... to have my voice and to set the record straight. ↗
Twice I had been stopped by these jobs, and I thought the role on Dark Shadows would go on for about three or four weeks. And then, the phenomenon began, the role caught on, the mail started to flood in. ↗
I was talking to my spiritual advisor. I got a letter from somebody who said that they were about to kill themselves, but they listened to a song of mine and it saved their lives. ↗
I know a lot of people who have tremendous commercial success and they go directly for it. There's something that has always been difficult about that for me. ↗