“I call Earth, Wind & Fire my day job and my solo career my night gig.” — Philip Bailey Quote

I call Earth, Wind & Fire my day job and my solo career my night gig.

I can't imagine my loved ones being in this world without anybody to turn to, without any support or encouragement, guidance in any shape, form or fashion. But there's such a large population of people and that's their plight. Through no fault of their own. Sometimes parents die, sometimes parents can't take care of them - all kinds of misfortunes.

Well, I can't sing like James Brown and stuff and go do a gig. I'm not a roughhouse singer.

Interestingly enough Miles Davis was an influence, and the way he approached harmonics. And one of my biggest influences was Dionne Warwick, early Dionne Warwick.

I didn't want a day job anymore, so I somehow made the jewelry line work. Now that I look back on it, it was, like, the dumbest idea ever. Everyone and their mother has a jewelry line, so in retrospect, maybe not the smartest fallback plan. But it ended up working out great!

I've been crazy lucky that I've never had a day job. I get really close to having no money, then I always wind up getting some kind of great job.

I wasn't taking myself seriously as a novelist, and then it became my day job.

For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it, I won't write at all. I write in what I call 'the crevices of my day job', and that comes only on weekends.