I've sung tons of songs, from many genres, and I've always imitated the singers--sometimes very accurately--and as time went on, those little quirks of other's voices became absorbed into mine--so now I have found my own voice, and it is a combo of all those I've imitated in the past. Same with the songs. I learn them from an original source, and sig them exactly as I hear them, but as I sing them over and over again, they slowly incorporate more of me and less of the original--until they become totally different from the original. Metamorphosis, you might call it.

--Mbo