Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.

This little kid pointed at me and said 'You look disgusting!' That was the first time I thought maybe I did. I decided I'd better start eating. I'm just thankful that I made it through with relatively few scars.

It feels great to win and I can't be more thankful to the Lord for walking me through every step. God was and is so faithful every time.

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessings!

I progressed through so many different styles of music through my teen years both as a player and a vocalist particularly the jazz and pop of the early 20th Century.

You need to know what makes artists tick. Having been through the process myself as a musician since I was an early teen gave me an advantage - understanding them from their point of view because it's about them it's not about you - it's their vision and what they're capable of achieving and you're the conduit.

Honestly I never thought I'd actually be playing a teen lesbian. I didn't think it was going to go this far. But I'm glad that it did because there have been a lot of fans who have expressed that they've been going through similar situations in their lives.

I think I'm also more open to other writers being present and listening to other opinions whereas before I was going through my angsty teen years while making records.

When I started out as a music journalist at the end of the 1980s it was generally assumed that we were living through the lamest music era the world would ever see. But those were also the years when hip-hop exploded beatbox disco soared indie rock took off and new wave invented a language of teen angst.