You have to respect your parents. They are giving you an at-bat. If you're an entrepreneur and go into the family business you want to grow fast. Patience is important. But respect the other party... My dad and I pulled it off because we really respect each other.

I met Gemma my wife when she was 12. She had a schoolgirl crush on me and her dad had arranged for her to meet me. Later she started coming to my concerts but I only got to know her well after her mother died. I rang to see how she was and that's how it started.

I have one brother John an airline pilot who is seven years younger. He's adopted though we're still blood related - he's my cousin. My parents couldn't have any more children after me so when Dad's brother died they adopted John then just a baby.

I watched Italia '90 with my Mum and Dad and my brother you know leaping around the house when the penalties were on... It would be great to be part of that to have that kind of impact.

My mother told me Homer Ditto was not my father. Nope. Mom had had a fling with some other guy who was my dad. Some dude who didn't stick around too long who Mom was happy to get rid of. She chose Homer and Homer chose me so he lent me his name even though I didn't have his blood.

I grew up in Chicago so I've always been a Bears fan. Dad used to take me to Bears games and Cubs games. My brother used to ride me over to Lake Forest College on his Honda Supersport and we'd watch the Bears practice. I remember those guys out there as monsters - they were the biggest things I've ever seen!

My dad is a Jack Nicholson lookalike and a frustrated performer my mother's into reading and poetry. I suppose the thing I owe them most is my confidence.

My dad was in the army. World War II. He got his college education from the army. After World War II he became an insurance salesman. Really I didn't know my dad very well. He and my mother split up after the war. I was raised by my maternal grandmother and grandfather and by my mother.

I was always embarrassed because my dad wore a suit and my mother wore flat pumps and a cozy jumper while my friends' parents were punks or hippies.

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 mother taught public school went to Harvard and then got her master's there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school. My dad had a more working-class lifestyle. He didn't go to college. He was an auto mechanic and a bartender and a janitor at Harvard.

My mother and dad were big animal lovers too. I just don't know how I would have lived without animals around me. I'm fascinated by them - both domestic pets and the wild community. They just are the most interesting things in the world to me and it's made such a difference in my lifetime.

The only day I remember of my parents' marriage was the day my dad walked out. As I stood there at five years old with my older sister and younger brother I knew that he was gone.

I grew up in a house where my father encouraged my brother and me to fail. I specifically remember coming home and saying 'Dad Dad I tried out for this or that and I was horrible ' and he would high-five me and say 'Way to go.'

A spirit is like your mother my dad who've made it. They can come around but they come around in a loving way because they've already made it to God. Most people make it.

My dad was the district attorney of New Orleans for about 30 years. And when he opened his campaign headquarters back in the early '70s when I was 5 years old my mother wanted me to play the national anthem. And they got an upright piano on the back of a flatbed truck and I played it.

Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents. They don't tell their real parents about that - you don't want to tell Mom and Dad.

Most children - I know I did when I was a kid - fantasize another set of parents. Or fantasize no parents. They don't tell their real parents about that - you don't want to tell Mom and Dad. Kids lead a very private life. And I was a typical child I think. I was a liar.

I don't really know any other musicians like me. I grew up backstage with my dad who played in a post-war dance band so I always feel at home at a venue.

I think my dad is a lot cooler than other dads. He still acts like he's still 17.

You see another side of Draco when he's with his dad. When Draco is with his dad he doesn't say anything. He keeps his mouth shut. He's sort of bullied by his dad so he acts very different.

My mother raised three children on her own and my dad was a doctor working 16 hours a day.

My Dad a small-town lawyer was also named Paul. Until we lost him when I was 16 he was a gentle presence in my life. I like to think he'd be proud of me and my sister and brothers because I'm sure proud of him and of where I come from Janesville Wisconsin.

I never saw any of my dad's stories. My mother said he had piles and piles of manuscripts.