When I was a senior in high school, I worked at a theater where they hired New York actors. And they told me about 'Backstage,' and so I got my school in Pennsylvania to subscribe. And there was an audition for a tour of 'The Sound of Music,' and I got the job. Deferred my admission to college just to go on tour.
The 'Dangerous' album has producers like Tiny, who to me is very special. Also, Luny Tunes, Nesty La Mente Maestra, Nelly La Arma Secreta, Haze, and El Ingeniero. I wanted to use everyone who makes music in Puerto Rico and beyond to have variety.
While most of the music I write is instrumental, I love to use the human voice as another instrument.
What is music anyway? It's a form of communication, and that's why I play the kind of music that I think - that I hope - can communicate with people.
I have music inside me and I'm very lucky to be able to play music and that's the way that I try to do it.
I grew up with Al Jarreau. We had a band together and worked these places for three years when neither one of us knew we could make a living doing music.
The first generation of CDs sounded terrible. Any chance to remaster would make the music sound better than what was already out there.
Of course, there are many, many musicians whose music gives me pleasure, but until I make contact with them, musically or personally, I never assume that anything wonderful will happen.
Artists who write songs... what they're going through usually comes through in their music.
Minimalism now is a reaction to what came before. It's absolutely of its time. Music moved into the set theory thing, and moved out of it.
I could care less about the particular. I like to make music.
And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London, and they said, well, no, we won't accept you, because we haven't a clue - you know - of the future of a so-called 'deaf' musician. And I just couldn't quite accept that.
I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.
I used to love 'Jeeves And Wooster.' That theme tune was great. I remember writing to them when I was little to get the music so I could learn it on the piano, and they sent me the sheet music.
When I was a kid, I went through a lot of musical phases, and one was when I'd learn everything that The Beatles ever recorded. After I started drums, I fell in love with their music so much that I just wanted to learn everything.
I just love making music, and that's my focus.
I'm not in it for the money. I like music. I love to write music. I can't imagine myself not playing or singing or writing. It would just drive me crazy if I didn't.
I have been doing music all my life so everyday when I get up I expect music will be part of it.
That was probably the stamp that went into my mind, because I worked in television for many years, doing that kind of music, so that really was my strong forte.
What is nice about country music today is that most artists are not trying to do something everybody else is doing. They really are trying to develop their own uniqueness.
I'm not really a music guy.
Music has always gotten me through life, particularly honest, real music.
It's music. It's supposed to be fun and inspirational. You have to be inspired. If I did it because it was my 'job,' and I only did it to make money, I don't think I'd still be doing it.
This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway.
I DJ'd for years. I DJ'd in high school, and I think my parents thought it was a passing thing. And then when I was in my second year of college, I was like, 'Yeah, you guys don't need to send me money anymore. My DJ gigs are good enough. I'm selling music; I think I'm gonna have a record deal. I can pay my tuition.'
We were excited when we sold our first 10 records. I always felt that if we could get the music out there, and if people became accustomed to it, then a substantial number of them would enjoy it.
There are people that bring artists to me to look at it and it's a question of whether I like their music and their look and if I think there's something they have that makes them different and commercial.
I was interested in music and making movies about musicians, but my own experiences, and doing what it felt like for me to be a drummer? Nah, I wasn't interested in that.
I guess the idea of doing albums in their entirety, in sequence, appeals to people. I guess it's the memory of being able to hear the music in the way it was originally presented.
A lot of pop music is about stealing pocket money from children.
When I did 'Bird,' it was a surprise to some people, first because I wasn't in it and second because most of the films I'd been doing were cop movies or westerns or adventure films, so to be doing one about Charlie Parker, who was a great influence on American music, was a great thrill for me.
When you become such a strong personality in music, it's hard for people to accept you as a different character.
I'm excited to create more awareness about the importance of giving the youth of America a choice. There's a 24-hour music channel. There's a 24-hour comedy channel. I believe there's a 24-hour gay channel coming. Why isn't there a 24-hour Christian channel that's edgy and hip and cool and new and different, like all that other stuff?
But I do think that we approach music, in of itself, with a religious attitude.
In life, everything just happens, and I believe even before we are born that our role in life has already been determined. My main ambition is to continue to write music, which helps me to evolve in a spiritual sense and hopefully to inspire others.
I just can't read music.
