My Dad is my hero.

My mom and I have always been very close since she did raise me as, like, a single mom. My friends and everyone I know are like, 'Wow, you guys really have a really good relationship.' She's with me a lot of the time, so people find that kind of shocking.

I don't know what it's like to have a typical father figure. He's not the dad who's going to take me to the beach and go swimming, but he's such a motivational person.

I'm well-travelled so I can see places coming up. I went to St. Croix in the West Indies at Christmas and it had been hit by a really bad tornado. Values there have gone down but I guarantee they will be up again in eight years. So I'll get in now while it's cheap as chips.

Look, everything that you experience as a kid is the foundation of how you are today. I was brought up in a working class family in Leeds and when it comes to money both my parents worked hard and instilled the same attitude into me.

I'm overly excited to finally announce this amazing global partnership deal back home with EMI Music. I know I have mentioned doing music in the past but for legal reasons I was not in a position to release any new music.

I am a huge romantic at heart.

I am a very romantic person, and I love 'love' - however cheesy that sounds!

I can sing in various genres, but my heart truly lies in singing romantic songs. This has been my forte ever since I was 8 or 9.

Tollywood has a special place in my heart because Telugu is my mother tongue, and when I sing in the language, my mom feels really happy.

If you look at Arijit Singh, Divya Kumar, and Benny Dayal, they aren't competing with each other. They have their individual standing and distinct space of work. I want to create that kind of niche for myself.

There are many people who are behind whatever I've achieved so far. My dad, Daboo Malik, is my mentor and guiding light who supported and influenced me. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to be what I am today. Besides him, Salman Khan is yet another important person who is my biggest and constant inspiration.

To be a footballer was just a dream, and I don't believe in dreams. I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I've never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I'm the same now.

In New York it seems like there's no Monday or Saturday or Sunday. The town is always moving. The vibe is great.

So many people say that obviously my game has changed since I arrived here and I say that it's good that it changed, otherwise it would show a lack of intelligence.

Sometimes in football you have to score goals.

My dad always taught me to never be satisfied: to want more and know that what is done is done. That was his way of seeing the game. You've done it, now move on. People might say, 'Well, when can you enjoy it?' But it worked for me because, in the game, you need to be on your toes.

To say that my dad pushed me is an understatement. I was never naturally drawn to football.

My dad always taught me to never be satisfied, to want more and know that what is done is done.

My first proper kiss was from Cara Shucksmith when I was 13 or 14 at her birthday party.

I proposed to my wife on Brighton Beach, and she said yes. That's pretty romantic. Even though I forgot to go down on one knee because I was too busy trying to compose the question.

Feminism isn't about hating men. It's about challenging the absurd gender distinctions that boys and girls learn from childhood and carry into their adult lives.

I don't care where you went to school. There - have I made your day? No? All right, I'll go further: I also don't care what your dad did for a living or how your mum voted. Nor do I mind whether you ate your tea in front of the telly, dinner at the kitchen table, or supper in the dining room.

I'm Italian. I love to cook Italian food, so I learned from my dad how to make sauce and meatballs and all that stuff. With my wife and kids, I started making homemade pasta. The very first time, I didn't have a pasta maker, so I had to cut it with a knife, the old-school way! The noodles were all jacked up, but it was fun.

Women have fought so long and hard for our rights and equality, and now all our attention is put on being a size 0.

For me, there is only love and fear.

Once you figure out what respect tastes like, it tastes better than attention. But you have to get there.

I change my mind so much I need two boyfriends and a girlfriend.

Long-term relationships are an everyday choice. It's harder to be in a marriage than it is to bounce from one relationship to the next.

My mom has always wished me a daughter just like me.

Consumerism diverts us from thinking about women's rights, it stops us from thinking about Iraq, it stops us from thinking about what's going on in Africa - it stops us from thinking in general.

My mom took all of my behavior personally. Everything I did, she thought it was an act of rebellion against her. But it was just me being me.

My mom never wanted to be a grandmom. She never wanted to be a mom, really.

I wanted to do it my way with my career, and I had this arrogant notion that people weren't just interested in my music but me as a person. That was my bit of arrogance, I guess. That's something I learned from Madonna. I was a fan right from the first time I heard 'Holiday.'

The willow is my favorite tree. I grew up near one. It's the most flexible tree in nature and nothing can break it - no wind, no elements, it can bend and withstand anything.

I always wrote poetry as a teenager and it was always so dark, but it made me feel good to get it out.

My dad raised me with some good advice: 'Always tell the truth. Always shoot from the hip. You might not have many friends, but you'll never have enemies, because people will always know where you're coming from.'

I sing my life. It's like I'm having group therapy 350 days a year, and the people who come to the show get that, and they're there for that - whether it's to be lifted up, or to be lifted out, or just entertained or inspired, or to feel not so alone.

I know my strong points: I work hard, I have talent, I'm funny, and I'm a good person.

I'm part of the party, getting the crowd fired up, singing songs, pouring drinks, whatever it takes to get them to have a good time. When I walk into the meet-and-greet, someone's always going to have a story, a sad story or a happy story.

I try to make an album that reflects what I love about country music. It's not just all about happy parties all the time. There are some sad songs.

But as far as being an American and loving this country and getting a chance to travel across it every day and meeting people on the road and folks in the military, I love this country on so many different levels.

Some people associate red with love, but to me, red is for an earlier stage of a relationship. Black is much deeper, to me. It's certainly the sexiest color.

Everyone talks about new love all the time, but there's so much to draw from when you've been in a longer relationship. It makes me stick my chest out a little bit. It's like, 'I know what you've been through, but you don't know what it's like over here.'

A Sunday morning spent reading the paper together, maybe drinking some mimosas, alone, and talking until noon. That would be pretty amazing. Married couples with kids will understand.

There should be a whole book written about that one word: country. What does that mean, country? It's such a huge umbrella. I would hope that what makes it country is that it all starts with a song. The story being told in three and a half minutes that is not being told on another station.

I think about me and my dad taking a road trip from Phoenix to Nashville when I was 19. He's no longer here with me, but I still drive that same 1994 Chevy truck. I never have bought a new car.

My dad and grandpa were in the army and as a country singer you're constantly playing at military bases all across the country and meeting soldiers and their families and hearing their stories.

My dad was a mechanic, and I have great style memories of him. He wore, every single day: a blue chambray shirt, Levi's 501s, and Red Wing boots. And that certainly wasn't fashionable at the time; it was basically the opposite. And he wore these horn rim glasses that were very Sol Moscot.

We only open a couple of presents on Christmas morning; we're all about the stockings - we even get them for the dogs!