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The thing that's tricky is sometimes the best voices - just because someone hits the big notes and sounds amazing - it doesn't necessarily mean they make the greatest artists.

There's plenty of people who can sing OK that make terrific records, and I love them from afar. But when I make a record, I need great voices. That's always my mandate.

It's fun to use all of my range; there are so many different colors and textures that come out, revealing different parts of my voice. I know what my voice is capable of, and I try to fit it to each song, evoke a mood.

The male singers who had the same range I did, when I was growing up, didn't do much for me. But put on Nina Simone, Carmen McRae or Nancy Wilson, and I'd be in seventh heaven. Female vocalists just did more with their voices, and that's why I paid more attention to them.

When I was a young man, I was a baritone, very far from possessing the whole range of the tenor then.

There are hundreds of people running around with great voices. If they would study and develop them they could become great singers.

I can hit baritone notes, and I can sing in the soprano range if I wanted to. I did this thing a long time ago where I did a duet with myself. I sound like two different people.

I have one of those gravel-y voices with no range to it.

My vocal ability is very limited, but I'm fortunate in that I can write the songs around my vocal limitations.

Some people say I've got a five-octave range, which is ridiculous. That would mean I'd sing like Mariah Carey or that alien in 'The Fifth Element.' And I'm nothing like that blue alien. I've got a range of about 3 1/2 octaves.