Roy Acuff was a big hero for me, and I was so sad when he passed. It's hard as you get older to lose your friends and family.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin' like myself.
I thought I'd gone to heaven, because I grew up watching Roy and Gene Autry.
I loved Roy Acuff with all my heart, and I never dreamed I'd be able to meet him or see him onstage, or especially become good friends with him. For all this to happen, it's hard to explain what a dream this is when you love something as much as I love traditional country music.
I had my footballing heroes such as Bryan Robson and Diego Maradona but my dad was a rugby league star, and he was my real hero. But the relationship with my mum was rocky and we saw things that would affect any youngster.
I grew up as a Roy Rogers fan, of course.
John Barry was my hero when I was about 13. His scores to the James Bond movies were the scores of my life back then.
When Dad died in 1998, it really hit my confidence - he'd helped me write and he thought I was really funny, but since he'd died I didn't feel right. And it felt like no one but me even remembered him.
My sporting hero was Drazen Petrovic, the NBA basketball player, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. He was a good friend, an unbelievable player, and I dedicated my Wimbledon win to him.
My Dad is my hero. He's 85 now and he is in great health. He is handsome and strong. He has an incredible moral and ethical backbone. I couldn't have been luckier with my parents.
Roy was just another bureaucrat to me, but I realized very soon that without Roy this thing would have died.