I have such happy memories of performing in a choir and I don't think I'd have got where I am today without all that experience. So my advice to young singers is to either join your school or church's choir or find one in your local area. Choral music at any level teaches you so much about musicianship and blending your voice.

Masterpieces are not single and solitary births they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common of thinking by the body of the people so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice.

As an actor you just want to work and then you just want to be on a show or have a job that you love and you hope that job will last - those things have happened. To have that platform to then talk about something that is very personal to me like marriage equality it feels like a gift. I try and really respect that voice and not abuse it.

During my travels in Iraq Israel Gaza Brazil Indonesia Japan Europe and all over the United States I have seen and heard the voices of people who want change. They want the stabilization of the economy education and healthcare for all renewable energy and an environmental vision with an eye on generations to come.

I was a teacher for a long time. I taught at a community college: voice theory humanities. And nowadays music education is a dying thing. Funding is being cut more and more and more.

Education makes us more stupid than the brutes. A thousand voices call to us on every hand but our ears are stopped with wisdom.

I mean we've all had those dreams where you know we try to cry out and our voice won't come.

I worked on my voice for Sweet Dreams but only to match my speaking voice to Patsy's actual singing voice. That was my way into that character.

I am fussy about my diet and straining my voice. I know sounds a bit over the top. But I'm not as bad as I used to be. These days I don't drink alcohol for five days before a show - very dehydrating for the vocal cords and all that acid reflux. I used to ban it for a fortnight. Nightmare.

I used to be really nervous when I sang. Like when I was a kid starting young 18 and 19 and my dad really had to sort of push me to start singing in front of people. Ever since I got out there and really started doing it the only thing I've ever tried to do is just sort of is be myself you know never put on a voice. Sing naturally.