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I grew up in a small town about 40 miles outside London, but it was a fairly cosmopolitan household.

My mum lives near Holkham Bay in Norfolk, and with my dad by the coast in Suffolk, I spend quite a bit of time by the sea.

I grew up in a middle class English family just outside London. I wasn't surrounded by that speedy city lifestyle, it was a little mellower.

I was brought up in a flat in North London - virtually the last building in London, because north of us was countryside all the way to the coast, and south of us was non-stop London for 20 miles.

I travel continuously, and I see many cities, but there is nowhere like London.

My grandmother worked at one of those Bel-Air mansions, and we would go - not too often, but every now and then - to pick her up. Hollywood was probably 12 miles from my house, but it might as well have been a million miles away. The only time I saw that world was on TV. Until I started making records.

I grew up 150-200 miles from any city. You simply didn't have much connection with the outside world. So my dreams were always to get out. It's a familiar kind of thing, I think, for anybody in a small town.

I used to visit London when I was younger with my family. I feel very close to the city.

At home, I hardly ever leave London. I don't like the countryside in England.

For someone like me who's lived in the same place her whole life - I mean, I lived three blocks from where I was born, and I met my future husband in the eighth grade - there are always family stories and legends passed down.