I have to own something before I can say it, and I have to own it before I can sing it as well, emotionally. I only enjoy acting and singing if I am believing what I am doing.
What I ended up doing was becoming an actor who didn't mind doing other people's words.
So I got interested in singing and I have always used my voice. Not professionally as much, but around the living room, the campfire, that kind of thing.
I directed an episode of Touched by an Angel a couple of months ago, and I will be doing more of that. I just like to keep a bit of variety going; it keeps things interesting.
Then when I got to Hollywood, the first musical I did was Festival in 1977.
I love to sing and I do think that my strength as a singer is... I think I have a voice that is certainly sufficient under most any circumstances... but I think my strength is that I really am an actor and I really do have to own what I am saying.
Actually I have been singing since I was a kid.
But we were doing plays and movies which I had nothing to do with other than being a producer, and I don't have that kind of interest or time any more.
Suddenly Star Wars came out while we were on hiatus, and we looked like the old Buck Rogers series, where they had cigarette smoke blowing out the back of the rocket ship.
I learned to play guitar at a young age and converted poems and stuff that I had written to songs.
But I always held my music up and protected it from compromise. So I just do it for my friends. I've written hundreds of songs, and I'm sure I have a few albums worth of songs.
Honestly, when I got to Hollywood I was trying to sell my songs.
I have four kids; three girls and a boy. The oldest girl is 13, and has her own social life now, so there's a bit of begrudging cooperation there. It's tough.
I have to be very careful about how often I drag my family to places. They need some stability in their lives.
I had done a lot of plays, particularly at my own theater in LA, and it was the first time in my theatrical life where I didn't feel that my role was also to keep everybody else working hard.
I got a series with the WB next year. We start shooting in July. It's going to be called Safe Harbor, and it's an hour show. It's a Spelling show and will follow 7th Heaven.
