SIXTY SECONDS
THE SINGER, 53, ON STARTING THE PIANO WHEN HE WAS THREE, BEING A DAD TO THREE GIRLS AND RECORDING HIS NEW ALBUM ALONE
What’s the theme of your new album?
It’s called Alone With My Faith. There were no musicians or recording engineers in the studio – I did it by myself at my home in Connecticut. The whole album is about faith and how it really helped me get through these uncertain times. We’re hopeful now but a year ago we didn’t have that sense of hope, so it’s a very literal title.
Have you always been religious?
Faith has been a big part of my life for a long time. I’m a Catholic and I got baptised a little bit later in life because my mom wanted my sister and me to decide for ourselves what religion we wanted to be.
She was a Jew and my dad is a Catholic. We went to church with him. .
You were really young when you began performing…
I was three when I started playing keyboards. I started playing in public when I was five and I recorded an album when I was nine, and then another when I was 11. I’ve been doing it ever since.
How many songs could you sit down and play right now?
For a musician, it’s not a big deal to say thousands. It sounds amazing but it’s really not. If you said Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen, I might not ever have played that song but I could play it because I know how music theory works. It sounds like a magic trick but it’s really not!
Was it hard to keep your feet on the ground after hitting the big time when you recorded the soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally?
I was so young – I was 21 and it was a fast-moving life. I was making money and travelling a lot. Obviously I was immature but I had to remind myself that I was no more important than anyone else. I was lucky to have people in my life to help me – my dad, my manager and my wife, Jill. I met her when I was 22 and she was always an inspiration.
Did you receive a lot of attention from girls when you became famous?
I guess there’s a real art to being able to pick up if somebody is attracted to you but I never had it. I’ve been with Jill for 31 years and she’s the only person I’ve been interested in. I knew immediately that she was the one. I found out years
There’s an art to being able to pick up if somebody is attracted to you but I never had it
later that she thought I was the one very early on. She didn’t tell me that so there was a lot of work trying to prove my love to her but it was worth every second of it.
What’s it like being a dad to three girls, Georgia, 24, Kate, 23, and Charlotte, 18? Do you ever feel outnumbered?
Sometimes we’d go out to dinner with other parents and they’d go, ‘Oh, we finally get a night away from the kids.’ I never did that. We love our daughters, that’s the bottom line. We loved them as toddlers and teenagers, and we love them now. I don’t want to sound like we have this pain-free life but so much time is spent on highlighting the negatives and I just don’t find any use in it. We love each other, we hang out.
Might your new album put off fans who aren’t religious?
I’ve never been private about my faith, I’ve sung songs like How Great Thou Art in my concerts for years. And if I was concerned about putting people off I never would have become a jazz musician, I’d have become a pop musician. Some people will like it, some people won’t, but I have to do things that mean something to me. And I don’t think this album is limited to a Christian perspective – there’s a lot of stuff on here that hopefully people will like for musical reasons.
How do you relax away from work?
It takes a lot to get my blood pressure up. Things that might normally upset someone, such as a delayed flight, don’t bother me. I’m very intense when I work but I’m relaxed most of the time.
What was it like being a judge on American Idol?
The experience was amazing but when you’re hired as a judge, your job is to speak your opinion about people and I’m not a judgemental person. I like being a mentor but judging someone is not something that comes particularly
naturally to me.
Do you have any regrets?
My dad just turned 95 and I asked him if he had any regrets and he said no. I guess my answer is the same. That’s not to say I haven’t made a ton of mistakes but those mistakes have been opportunities from which I’ve grown.
What’s your favourite song from your back catalogue?
There are songs that a lot of people like to hear, like It Had To Be You or We Are In Love, that I’ll play every night for the rest of my life. But every time I go on stage, the show is different.