Musically, some of the acts that I've really been identifying with are: Fleetwood Mac, Roxy Music, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Earth, Wind & Fire, in general music that seems to have a lot of romance to it and a certain glamorous idealism.
Fleetwood Mac were really accessible musically, but lyrically and emotionally, we weren't so easy. And it was our music that helped us survive. But all of us were in pieces personally.
Vangelis, who wrote the music for 'Chariots Of Fire,' is a bit of an idol of mine - his music is stunning. So when I got a call from my manager in the 90s asking if I'd like to do some songwriting for him I couldn't believe it.
Defining something being a Fleetwood Mac song is calling it a Fleetwood Mac song, you know? Nothing becomes Fleetwood Mac until that's what you call it.
I got on a bit of a rollercoaster looking into how Herbie Hancock used to make his tunes, and I remember a picture of Jean-Michel Jarre at one of his concerts and seeing the Memorymoog. When I heard the sound it I was like, 'Arrrgh, I really need that.'
I was always inundated with music, whether it be my mother's favorites like Fleetwood Mac and Carole King and the Carpenters, or my dad's jazz music.
The Eagles, let's face it, they were a pretty cool group, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie. I had this really eclectic background in music.
Music is my passion. I've always been musically driven and musically inclined. I play the keyboard a little bit. I love listening to music and discovering music. That's my love, but I'm not a rapper at all.
Some cultures don't have a separate word for music and dance. To my knowledge, this notion of listening to music without dancing is a Western creation. I can't think of any artist that I love that doesn't inspire movement in some form or another. I guess Tangerine Dream or early Vangelis or something like that, you're not really going to dance. But on the whole, I feel like dancing and music are so naturally intertwined. I feel like subconsciously, that's the goal whenever I'm working on music. It's kind of the defining thing: Does it got some funk to it, basically?
When I do listen to music a lot of times I listen to old school music, I'm talking about Earth, Wind & Fire, I'm talking about the Isley Brothers, the O'Jays. It just eases my mind.
It's interesting - the things you remember about Chariots of Fire is the slow running on the beach and the Vangelis music.
I've grown up with my parents' music tastes, listening to Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones.
Earth, Wind & Fire was something new. I wanted to bring something innovative to the music. It was out of a desire to create excitement with music that was pleasurable to play and listen to.
I didn't start doing graffiti until two years after I got to New York. Jean Michel Basquiat was one of my main inspirations for doing graffiti. For a year I didn't know who Jean Michel was, but I knew his work.
The Wyclef Jean music is eclectic music. Wyclef represents music -eclectic music. I've been doing this music since I was a child, and I said I will refuse for anyone to put me into a box.
My father and mother listened to oldies, from be-bop and swing music to - I hate to admit it, but - Barry Manilow, Fleetwood Mac and the Moody Blues.
If you look at the history of popular music, the most successful musicians have started out being really marginal and esoteric. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Madonna. Prince. Bruce Springsteen. Fleetwood Mac. David Bowie. Public Enemy. Nirvana.