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I adored my mother, and I will always have extraordinary memories about her and remember her, and she opened the doors for me to appreciate arts.

When my time ends, I want people to say, 'Man her music made me smile; it just enlightened my life; it inspired me; it made me feel good every time.'

Music had been my first love among the arts, and I was fascinated by it, as I still am.

I was introduced to soul music at a very young age - my mom was a soul singer.

I sing to my wife; it helps me. She was my muse. I've written so many songs about her, to her, with references to her, and still do. She's a big part of my life. We were together for 33 years. It actually does me good - she's with me all that time in that way.

I was raised by muses. Women who had men in awe of them and who wrote them movies and wrote them music.

The Pleasure Seekers eventually turned into Cradle, when we started writing our own material. My younger sister Nancy was brought in as singer and I kind of stepped aside as main lead singer and concentrated on my instrument.

A lot of artists fell in love with me over the years.

I was very inspired by my mother. She was a vocal teacher and sang in a band, and my first memories of her were going out with her on the local circuit.

I felt I had an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of great soul musicians of the past, who made a lot of social and political commentary through their music.