My dad was a musician it was just what he did like another guy's dad drives a meat truck. Our house was normal. We weren't taken with the fact our dad was a musician.

I was born and brought up in Liverpool with my clever little sister Jemma who is 14 and wants to be a vet. My mum Jane is an administrator and my dad Peter is a taxi driver.

When I was on Broadway when I was little I remember always driving through Times Square with my dad to the theater. Now when I go back you can't even drive on Broadway in the 40s. New Times Square is too touristy to me.

Listen everything I did in my childhood was competitive. Everything we did my dad made it into a game to win. We used to drive my mum nuts.

I'm the most inappropriate dad. I curse in front of my kids and their friends. I let my kids watch R-rated movies. I'll walk by the movie theater and say 'Let's go see that ' and my kids will say 'No it's rated R. It's not appropriate for kids.' I'm like Uncle Dad. We have fun. I don't live with them but I drive over four days a week.

When I was a kid my step dad started this business and would go out and get lost cows and stuff. He was part-time truck driver farmer and cowboy. He taught me how to ride from an early age.

Before breaking into music I had various jobs: forklift driver driving a courier. But I was forced into working rather than doing it off my own bat because that was my dad's way: you got a job and paid your way.

When I moved out of London 13 years ago I found a whole other reason not to drive. This was because my new husband Dan unlike my dad did drive and this became a great source of fun and adventure.

My dad didn't drive - the only dad I knew who didn't.

You live with the fear people might find out. Then you actually have the courage to tell people and they go I don't think you are gay. It's enough to drive you crazy.