I'm definitely inspired by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Lauryn Hill.
My favorite artists always documented emotion. Marvin Gaye and Al Green and Sade and Aaliyah.
I saw B.B. King in concert one time where he had this guy that would bring him out a glass of water and towel to wipe his forehead with.
I was raised on Marvin Gaye. Before I knew Babyface or anyone else, I knew Marvin Gaye. My mother played Marvin Gaye.
Alternative R&B is in my soul. It's not going anywhere.
Close to my heart is Muddy Waters. I love the way he sang. It was almost like a bark. It was like the bark of a dog: it's not fancy. Sometimes it's not like singing; it's like shouting.
I like the wildness of Buddy Guy.
I get a lot of my inspiration from the Jackson 5 and Luther Vandross.
I think I'm more influenced, just in general, not by blues artists, but more by stuff from Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder is probably my biggest musical influence of all. And Donny Hathaway.
The Righteous Brothers were purely rhythm and blues, black music.
Some songs are just going to be acoustic with just maybe some light background stuff going on and maybe violin or something like that. Or sax - I mean, I'm definitely having some sax. That's just what I love. It's going to be jazz-rock stuff. That's what I'm aiming for.
There are a lot of people, like myself, who love R&B and will always love R&B.
My dad was a soul fan and a singer himself, and he loved vocal harmony, stuff like the Beach Boys and Motown like the Four Tops, which was a big influence on me.
I stumbled into soul music at a very young age. It had something that really spoke to me.
When I was a kid this is what I was listening to on my car radio - Lowell Fulsom singing 'Tramp.'
When it comes to R&B singers, people think of soft men and technically I am not a soft man, not your typically R&B cat, so with a song like 'Ice Box' I wanted to be the voice for others.
My favorite singer is Lauryn Hill - all time, hands down. She was my biggest inspiration growing up.
I grew up listening to oldies, like Motown. That's from my mom.
My songs are all about celebrating poignant music. While some of them focus on fun and revelry, they are fortunately backed by powerful lyrics. Put together, the lyrics, tune and my voice strive to take the songs to the next level.
I love Marvin Gaye. I like jazz and all that stuff.
Adele Adkins' retro-soul debut, '19', was striking less for her songs than for that voice: a voluptuous, slightly parched alto that swooped and fluttered like a Dusty Springfield student trying to upstage her teacher, or at least update the rules.
I love soul music.
I listened to everything. To the early Motown groups - the Four Tops and the Temptations - to Johnny Mathis, Gloria Lynne - my sisters loved her. Sarah Vaughan. Everything.
Even before coming into the industry, I was a big fan of Motown, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight, the Temptations, Diana Ross and The Supremes.
Pieta Brown is a great singer/songwriter who possesses major star power magnetism.
