I didn't want to be the typical teen idol. I didn't want to be Leif Garrett. I didn't want to be Shaun Cassidy David Cassidy or Parker Stevenson. I wanted to do my own thing.

However I had a chance encounter with an admissions officer of Stevens Institute of Technology who so impressed me by his erudition and enthusiasm for the school that I changed course and entered Stevens Institute.

Even in the beginning when we knew there was a legal argument about how much our song sounds like his song as one songwriter to another I wasn't sure that Cat Stevens would take that as bad.

I listened to the radio so I was influenced by everyone from Michael Jackson to Milli Vanilli. But thankfully my dad had a collection of Cat Stevens albums while my mom was listening to jazz.

I'd love to work with Sufjan Stevens. He so gets it. He's amazing.