When I left South Africa in 1960 I was 20 years old. I wanted to try to get an education, and music education was not available for me in South Africa.
The country experience was more of a departure. When you consider my education and my upbringing, you can see that was more of country rock outgrowth of my popular music aspirations.
When I was four years old, my mother put me into a school for early music education where you get perfect pitch and harmony and composition.
Honestly, my favorite kind of dancing is just lettin' loose. There's something great about the carefree flinging of your body to great music. It can be so joyous.
I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.
I take a baths all the time. I'll put on some music and burn some incense and just sit in the tub and think, Wow, life is great right now.
All my momma's people were very musical. My grandpa, who was the Pentecostal minister, he was a great musician. He played the fiddle, he played the piano.
I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.
I've talked about sex a great deal in my music for a great while now. I feel very comfortable with it.
I think our storytellers - our songwriters should be great storytellers, and they should be mountain climbers and explorers, because music is something that can cross all different borders.
And I said - Styx - as a musical group it is our place to reflect the light that is shining on us back onto this place and say - this is where so much great stuff started.
That's the great thing about music. You can find some '60s pop record and feel completely invigorated by it, even though it's so old.
I'm really excited to be chosen as a VEVO LIFT artist. It's a great opportunity to reach millions more music fans with my sound and let them see the real Rita.
I honed in on a great time, the Motown era, the '60s and '70s. That type of music has always been a staple in my life.
The singer-songwriter has always played music that was stylistically rooted in the '30s and the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. But the fact of the matter is that none of us remember the Depression firsthand.
With other people, you're always swapping music. Somebody is always listening to something you've never heard. It's a great way to hear all sorts of new things.
It really is no different in the way that we make records and shoot music videos. I don't think of the movie as being a great leap out of my current profession.
I used to do puppet theatre and also mime and musical theatre in Florida for competitions and festivals, which was great. I was very much involved in theatre when I was in college.
I write music just for me. I'm certainly not good enough to do it on any kind of a level but I enjoy that time because it's quiet.
I don't ever want to come out with something safe and get away with, 'It sounds good!' It's got to be more than sounding good. The music I like are events.
I'd love to do a musical. I've been known to have a good step or two. I'm half Samoan, you know, and part of our culture is singing and dancing daily.
