My major influence was my ten years older sister.

Tori Amos had a major influence on how I craft words in a song.

I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life.

Miles Davis is a major influence of mine in terms of the way that I am as a bandleader.

Doolittle was a major influence on the Seattle grunge scene, which emerged in the early 1990s.

Smokey Robinson is one of my heroes as a singer and songwriter; a major influence on my own music from the very start.

I went through a big Alice Cooper phase, which was probably a major influence on my writing style later, especially after Plastic Surgery Disasters.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

Extremism is always potentially dangerous, but in Hungary's political reality, Jobbik and the other far-right parties have no chance of having a major influence.

Tori Amos had a major influence on how I craft words in a song. Until I heard 'Little Earthquakes' all my lyrics used really obvious analogies like rain for tears.

China and the United States have major influence in international affairs and shoulder important responsibilities in upholding world peace and promoting common development.

Marlon Brando was the major influence in my life, though I never met him. And my father - we didn't get along, but he was an influence in terms of honesty and work ethic. That's the greatest compliment I could pay him.

My major influence is Satyajit Ray; his film 'Shatranj ke Khilari' was set in Awadh and it gave us memorable characters. Ray's musical scores and soundtracks were an intrinsic part of his films. And music to me is important, too.

Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.

When I grew up, I saw the moon landing, and I was fascinated watching them as a child, and that's what really turned me onto space and science fiction, and I started watching things like 'Lost In Space,' and that led me to 'Star Trek,' which was a major influence on my life.

As an undergraduate, I took two writing workshops taught by Elizabeth Hardwick. She was certainly a major influence, though more as a writer I greatly admired than as a teacher. As for other writers, I think it's safe to say that my work has been and continues to be influenced to one degree or another by every writer whose work I love and admire.

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