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Aaliyah was one of my favourite artists.

As I grew up, I wasn't a great buyer of albums, but I really liked 'The Jam.' I like good musicians and loved the energy of their songs.

When I first met Aaliyah - it time for the world to hear this, I'm gonna give a little secret - I was in love with her.

I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music, and R&B in particular was something that I loved - Aaliyah, Usher, Alicia Keys, TLC.

Aaliyah has been an artist I've grown up with, like an older sister.

It was very interesting in my world, because I grew up as a fan and I did not know that there was a thing called R&B, pop, country, classical - I just knew that I loved music.

I was a pop-music junkie. My parents were into Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. They weren't too excited when I had Aretha or the Stones pumping.

I loved a lot of different kinds of music, but for my own thing, I went for the singer-songwriters.

One of my first favorite records was the debut Garbage album, which I heard when I was very young. Shirley Manson is a great female vocalist and performer and I admire her for that.

I was the kind of kid who loved singing. I loved rapping; I loved attention. But for me, it was more about chasing the dream of being a superstar because of the town I was from and because of what I'd seen.