Growing up, for me, it was in a musical family, so my mum and her brothers and sisters always sang. Every time I tried to join their group when I was little, they were like, 'Ah, darling, you're not too good - just sit back and watch us.'
I was the only one in my family to be musically inclined, and my mother loved that. It encouraged my grand aunt to find me a music teacher, because it was quite obvious music was in me.
My dad was a big influence because he did a lot of music.
I was nurtured to play music pretty much from birth.
I remember Alicia Keys and Usher had released a song called 'My Boo,' and my music teacher got me to sing a duet with a friend of mine, and I remember being so nervous because I loved to sing, but I could never fathom singing by myself. And when I did that, I remember how proud I was of myself. I was 12.
My dad encouraged anything I wanted to do, especially music. Actually he drove me around to places where I could play.
I was lucky enough to have parents who started me on music very early, but most kids don't get that kind of exposure.
My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it.
I started to play music again because of my dad and my mom. I grew up playing guitar with my dad, and he and my mom encouraged me to start again.
My parents have both done some music stuff. My family was very artist-friendly, so that was encouraging.
Music, of all the liberal arts, has the greatest influence over the passions, and it is that to which the legislator ought to give the greatest encouragement.
I think musicians are always very generous in promoting anything good they hear. It's just kind of in our nature.
