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So many of the bands that influenced me growing up were English, even if I didn't realise it. English pop ruled the world in the '80s!

There was always a lot of American music in England until, obviously when the Beatles came around, then there was a shift towards English music, but before then American music was the main thing.

I have been long associated with British music. I have favoured it as my alternate music next to American.

When we started, a lot of bands sounded really different from one another.

When I was 13, listening to Choice FM, I would listen to a lot of R&B from America, and whenever a British person tried to do it, it didn't really work, they just sounded like they were trying to copy that whole style. Now the music sounds British, something real rather than an imitation.

I guess something that I've noticed from American acts who had success in touring is more of an explanation as to their music. Which is I think quite funny. I think British acts might like to leave more to the imagination - maybe a bit more obscure perhaps - a bit more shy.

People are disappointed when they hear my American accent because they regard 'The Police' as an English band but I've clung to my American-ness all the way.

England in the '60s and the '70s was everything that history has said; it was phenomenally exciting, musically.