I grew up in Bridlington until I was 16, and I lived with my mum and my sisters. I finished school, got my GCSE's, and at the time I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I’m very much half-American - my mom is American. I grew up in Australia until I was 16 then I finished high school over here because I got into this performing arts high school.
I'm very much half-American - my mom is American. I grew up in Australia until I was 16, then I finished high school over here because I got into this performing arts high school.
I've been such a gypsy in my life because I was born in northern England and grew up there until I was 16. But I'm 31 now, so I've lived almost half my life in so many other countries that I don't really know what nationality I am. I mean, I've got a British passport and an American green card, but I don't know where I'm from anymore.
Mum grew up in Wythenshawe, one of 12. My mum didn't really go to school and didn't see the need for education, she got bullied so she excluded herself.
I did part-time jobs until my apprenticeship as a milling machinist at Vauxhall when I was 16. I got £15 a week and I used to give my mum a fiver of that.
I studied with a blind teacher from about 5 until I was 16, at two different schools. From the age of 12 until 16, I was in a boarding school-which, I believe, at that time was compulsory for blind children.
By the time I finished high school, I knew I wanted to become an astronomer. By the time I finished college, I knew I wanted to be part of the American space program. And that's exactly what I did.
I was born in Leeds, grew up in Bridlington.
By the time I got to high school, I didn't play anything but baseball because I was on a mission. I really wanted to get a scholarship. I really wanted to focus all my time and efforts on baseball. When I got up to Florida State, God spoke to me very clearly and called me out of that and called me into music, which up until that point had just been a hobby.
I grew up in a house full of women. I have two older sisters and my mum who is a very strong woman.
The bar was very high-we had to really make sure that we got what we really wanted, that it was a real finished album. We weren't going to give up until we got that.
I grew up in uptown Jamaica; I went to a rich school. I was raised by my mother and my stepfather; they made sure education came before anything. I had a good childhood, grew up spending time with my bigger brothers and sisters. My people are good people. I was exposed to a lot of different kinds of people and culture.
I wanted to be a mechanic. When I was 14 I wanted to quit school and go work on my car. But my dad said Son, you shouldn't do that. You should stay in school until your education is finished, and when you're done, don't make your hobby your job.
People often expect that I should know a lot of things because I'm black. I don't really explain it to people, but it's like, I'm from Australia, my Mum's Aussie, and I grew up with five other Aussie brothers and sisters.
I was born in Northern California and lived there until I was about eight years old. Then my parents moved me up to Seattle. I lived there from ages eight to 16. When I was a California kid, I remember running around in my bathing suit and barefoot all the time and getting a suntan.
The only thing my mum could afford growing up was to be able to look after me and my brother so the only thing that I wanted when I grew up was to be able to look after my mum. So when I could, I bought her a house and then I got her a car as well and I got her a little air freshener to put in her car and on it, it said "life is a journey not a destination."