My parents are from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and I feel like it's an old Southern thing where people say that, as a kid, you can be an astronaut or a ballerina or a singer, but as a grown person, you need to go and get a job.
'Dr. Quinn' came along when I turned 40, so my career actually peaked then.
I am a workaholic, have always been.
At the beginning of my career, it was very hard to go up. Now, it's very hard to stay on top. You have to stay there, and I want to stay there so badly. I'm still standing.
I got my first job by exceeding expectations.
My career, it's turned out to be something more than I ever thought and more than I ever dreamed. It's been an unbelievable ride. It's amazing.
A lot of times, people say, 'My work didn't suffer with family.' I would go a step further: My career only flourished upon having children. It got better.
Some people, through luck and skill, end up with a lot of assets. If you're good at kicking a ball, writing software, investing in stocks, it pays extremely well.
You looked at Stanford or Harvard, or the University of Colorado, these were powerful engines just turning out people ready to create and grow businesses.
At 18, I wanted to work with the creme de la creme because I thought that was the only way to be successful. But I don't think any A-lister has done as many B-grade films as I have.
You're only as good as your body of work, and everybody has issues, whether it's Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese. I'm not comparing myself to those guys, but you learn more from the misses than the hits.
When you get married and have children, and you start having hits and success and your business starts growing, there's less and less time for songwriting.
I have been blessed with working with the best in the business.
Every time you do a movie, it's important for your career, your reputation.
The '80s was all about this idea that women could have it all. You could have a career, and you could have a husband, and you could have children.
I have never been someone who applied 'work begets work' to my career, sometimes unfortunately.
I'm getting good exposure because of the movies I'm picking and the people I'm working with.
Every time I reach a major milestone in my career, I expect it to make more of a difference than it does, and I guess that means I'm in the sport for the right reasons. I'm not in it to win it because winning can only last for so long, and it's a very fickle thing, sport.
Since the big band started I'm just always swamped with movies and things. It certainly pays the bills and it's very satisfying, because I get to write all these big charts and all this crazy music.
I'm the father of three daughters, and they're all highly trained professionals. Two of them are mothers, and the other one wants to be at some point.
I've been fortunate in my career to have the opportunity to pick and choose the parts I play. I've also been lucky to always be involved with quality actors, quality directors, quality writers.
That's the happiest I am, when I'm doing great work.
I had a critical father. I'm more like my father. He was a sales rep for pharmaceutical companies.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
I've been lucky in that I've always loved my job.
