I didn't even respect singers until I heard Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong.
I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to perform with bands that have influenced me as a musician over the years.
I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will look at Miles, Bird, Clifford Brown, Ella and Dizzy, among elders as our Mozarts, our Chopins, our Bachs and Beethovens.
There were three great child singing stars: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Jackie Washington.
Tons of people inspire my music, and now when I do an interview, I'm scared to say who they are.
My biggest musical influences are probably my parents.
We looked at the Allman Brothers as the fathers of what was to be called Southern rock. In our book, if you didn't like the Allman Brothers, you were sacrilegious.
The thing about influence is that any composer worth anything will give you the same names.
The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist. It's a different world without Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Jones and the rest.
It's a trip now that other bands are saying that they look up to us. In my mind, I'm still 18 years old trying to emulate Pantera in my bedroom.
Everything I hear influences me. I can't tell you all my influences as a musician.
People compare me to the people I listen to, the people I'm influenced by, Andre 3000, Missy, Busta.
People like Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Marlene Dietrich and Sammy Davis Jr. all walked me down this path of entertainment.
