I was recording stuff with my dad when I was like five six years old. I played with him on tour. I'd gone with him to Japan in '91 played some gigs did a couple shows at the Albert Hall.

'Keep your head down at school.' Those are sage words from my dad. They kept me in check for years.

I found myself very lost after 'The Partridge Family ' and I lost my dad and I lost my manager and I lived in a bubble and it took me 15 years to get through that and a lot of psychotherapy and I'm laughing about it now!

Dad worked in a warehouse when I was little and I didn't see him for three years as he was doing all the overtime God gave him to buy me new ballet shoes or a new tutu.

And then before going back for my sophomore year I decided to change my major to arts and sciences and my dad cut a deal with me: He said if I'd quit school he'd pay my rent for the next three years as if I were in school.

Like my dad I have a Christmas party most years. I like to celebrate and see as many people as possible.

You know not having my real dad around and having a step dad made me want to be a great dad. So now I have been one for 9 years. And now 3 daughters. So that is what I am - a dad first and foremost before anything else. It's just something that comes natural now.

My parents moved to American Samoa when I was three or four years old. My dad was principal of a high school there. It was idyllic for a kid. I had a whole island for a backyard. I lived there until I was eight years old and we moved to Santa Barbara.

My mom and my dad were married 56 years and the fact that I reconciled with my dad I think made their marriage a little bit better as well.

My dad was a Marine. He was one of the Montford Point Marines. Those are the equivalent of the Tuskegee Airmen for Marines. He's a tough tough guy. When I was 15 we had a fight and I didn't speak to him for 10 years.