"It was my mother's favourite song. He has one of the smoothest voices in music ever. There's a strange sort of reverb going on there that's also present in 'Blue Velvet' by Bobby Vinton. Subconsciously, some part of me wanted to emulate what my mother found to be romantic. Again at a young age, I found that this was romance. Here was what made the girls smile because he was a huge heart-throb as well. So that early crooning, soft romantic style was a blueprint for us early on. From time to time I dive into it, as it's one of the constellations that's always in the sky for me. In fact, it's always on the radio and played more than Britney Spears or Alicia Keys, but only on oldies stations."

"This is a strange book, but it’s strange because it’s packed with so many great characters. It’s the story of a little boy, Owen Meany, who has a peculiar voice and believes he is an instrument of God. He and his friend Johnny are on a Little League team when Owen hits a foul ball that kills Johnny’s mother. From that moment, the boys’ lives are intertwined. I could picture and smell and hear what Owen Meany was like. Irving captures the innocence of youth, of people growing up together and figuring out who they want to be, and discovering the pain of separation—that made the book great for me. It’s about faith and fate, and how you don’t know who the messenger is going to be."