I'm a very goal-oriented person in certain ways, and then in certain ways I understand that there's nothing at all that I can do about certain things. In other words, I would never set a goal that I don't have control over achieving.

My family has had a lot of trouble with cancer in particular. There are a lot of great causes out there but for me to pick one I would say anything that is cancer related.

I can't control how high my song goes on the charts, you know what I mean. I mean, I can sway it a little bit by working as hard as I can, hopefully being a decent person and giving good interviews and working hard on the road and being nice to people and shaking hands and doing everything you can do.

At the same time that I love meeting people and stuff, I'm a very private person.

When you're around your family, and you have that history and that shared language, you say things you'd be embarrassed to hear quoted back to you later.

I know I was very unstable and unhappy all through my life. I lost my mother and then my father. Losing Dad was like losing the bearings of my life. My sisters took it badly, but I took it worse. Throughout my lean phases, Dad was like a solid rock, supporting me, whether it was work, or my jail term.

When you're getting chemotherapy, you feel so alone, even when your family is there, or your friends are there with you. Sometimes it's just you, feeling like you're in a fight against something that you can't control.

Music always lived with me, like a family tradition.