Who were your musical influences as a kid?

I had a lot of musical influences when I was growing up, and you're not allowed to laugh at them, but I really loved Abba, and I used to sing along to them at the top of my lungs in my basement. I pretended that this one brick wall was the people, and actually, if you go down [to the basement], my parents are stilling living in that house, I drew little faces on all the bricks with a felt marker. It didn't go over real well with my dad. And I loved Karen Carpenter. I loved Shirley Bassy; a lot of the kids don't know who that is, but if you ever have had to sit through James Bond movies with your Mom and Dad; she sang a lot of the theme songs. Diamonds are Forever, and Goldfinger, and things like that. But I also loved James Taylor, and Carol King, and Blondie, and I liked Kiss; because my older brother listened to all these whacky records. So, I had a little bit of everything; Sammy Davis Junior; my parents listened to Rodger Whiticker; Nana Mouscurie. I had a mish-mash; which is why I'm here today.