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I was a kid, and I remember my mother singing. She was also a radio soap opera actress, but my mother sang.

My mother was a singer, and both of her sisters were singers. There was always music around.

I was a loud child, and if my mother sang to me, I would be quiet.

I grew up with music in the house. I was told I could sing as soon as I started talking. Everybody in my family sang, always lots of records, blues and jazz and soul, R&B, you know, like Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Coltrane, that kind of thing.

I grew up singing. My mother was a music teacher.

My grandmother would sing in the choir, while my dad - while he was in college - sang and recorded with a quartet. So yeah, it was definitely my dad's Southern side that impacted on me musically.

My mother was the first singer I had contact with. She sang constantly to us around the house, in church.

I think I've been influenced by everything I've ever heard. The first thing I ever heard was my grandma, who was an opera singer. The first song I ever learned was the 'Nessun Dorma' from Puccini's 'Turandot.' My father was a big band singer, so I used to hear him walking around the house singing standards all the time.

I could always sing, from a really young age, but my voice was really weird. I used to make my mum turn up the radio every day in our house. She was well into music so I got that from her.

I was the youngest of three kids, and from the age of four, singing was my way of getting attention.