I never really had a lot of vocal "character" until I got older and started beating my voice up a good deal. A lot of singers do that, start smoking and screaming a lot in the shower, all that stuff. A good friend of mine, Bill Champlin, who's got an amazing voice, told me his story. He said when he was a kid, he wanted to sound like Lou Rawls more than anything in the world. He just loved Lou Rawls. So he started smoking, playing a million clubs, doing all those things we all did back then. He told me, "30 years later all I can do is sound like Lou Rawls!"