If everyone in the music business were brutally honest about what their intentions were then you could sort things out, but it's all smoke and mirrors.

I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when rap was inspirational. Public Enemy were awesome. But it's all about status and bling now, and it doesn't say anything to me.

You've got to be strong enough for love. It's very easy to be cool and cynical. It's very difficult to just let yourself go and be in love. You've got to be strong enough for that.

I absolutely loved being famous. It was all great, up until the point when it wasn't.

Anything that's of any use, famous people get hold of it and take it for themselves and it gets a bad rap.

My wife would say I'm not romantic at all, but I would say that I'm the ultimate romancer because I write about... life being brilliant.

It's a sad state when more people retweet than buy records.

You've just got to trust your instincts and realize that you can't please all the people all the time. You've got to please yourself ultimately in the end.

I'm not interested in making money. It's just that with my talent, I'm cursed with it.

American sports are quite masculine. And football - although it's still played by men all over the world - football compared to American football is quite feminine in its artistry. And there's no padding. It's America's loss, though.

I started off as many fathers do. I enjoyed the good bits, but I was wary of the responsibility. But now I love being a dad.