Ben Harper on Ambition

From the March/April issue of Performing Songwriter:

"That's a funny thing about living in L.A. and Hollywood. Hollywood loves its accomplished, but it loathes its ambitious, which I find an odd juxtaposition. Don't ever fall victim to that, man. I was equally as ambitious as any songwriter out there. It takes a hunger. It's OK to feel that your voice can have a resonance beyond your immediate life, or your immediate friends, or your immediate peers, or your immediate community. It's OK to feel like you have something to say to the world. Don't let anyody dissuade you from that. Don't let anybody push you off that, because that's yours. You own it, and you can take it to the world in your own way. Large or small, you're always a succes when you're doing what you love."