I always loved Little Anthony and the Imperials. They were like the precursors of the Temptations. I loved their music.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've always loved New Orleans music. I always loved it when the Neville Brothers opened up for the Grateful Dead and the Dirty Dozen and all that.
I was very young at the time, and I mainly appreciated their vocal qualities, even though I was already living as they did - as black performers in a white world.
My favorite bands were Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Grand Funk Railroad. If you listen to some of my early music, you can hear it.
I loved music from earliest childhood - from as long as I can remember.
Thelonious Monk was one of the musicians I most connected with early on. I'm a huge Betty Carter fan, and the way that Abbey Lincoln and Shirley Horn grew immensely from the time they were young is so inspirational.
When I was 14 years old, I was a huge fan of the Velvets, the Stooges and the Modern Lovers. They are my three favourite bands. I never get sick of 'em.
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.
One of the reasons I got into musical theater was Anthony Warlow. I was obsessed with the 'Jekyll and Hyde' concept album because of him.
The groups, though, were my inspiration way back then. I liked Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers.
I've read the 'Mortal Instruments' series; I was obsessed with those.