<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" CG is totally digging hot new singing star Jackson Harris. You can download his EP Long Story Short on iTunes now or head to YouTube and check out his amazing cover of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys&amp;#039; hit &amp;quot;Empire State of Mind.&amp;quot; CG hung with Jackson and he filled us in on his musical inspirations, dating life and celebrity crushes! Cosmogirl: What influenced you to start singing? Jackson Harris: I grew up in NYC and started to sing when I was about 9 or 10 years old. My family was always very supportive and they instilled in me a love of the arts. My mother always encouraged me to follow my dreams. Some of my initial musical inspirations were the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, but the list can go on and on. CG: Do you remember your first album and concert? JH: The first album that I bought was Crash by Dave Matthews Band and I fell in love with it. I&amp;#039;ve always been amazed at how Dave Matthews can continue making amazing music over all these years. My first concert was Billy Joel and even as a little kid I was singing along the entire time. CG: What inspired you to cover &amp;quot;Empire State of Mind&amp;quot;?  JH: I was at the World Series game for the NY Yankees and Jay Z and Alicia keys came out and performed &amp;quot;Empire State of Mind&amp;quot; live. It was clear during that performance that the song had become the new unofficial anthem for NYC, so that&amp;#039;s when I decided I wanted to do my own take on it. I think of my version as a little bit more laid back. CG: What were you like in high school? JH: In high school, I had a great group of friends and I&amp;#039;m still very close with them. Some of my friends were more academic, some were more athletic, and I think I was sort of the dreamer of the group. I loved school and learning but I always wanted to pursue music. I formed my first band in ninth grade - it was so much fun to be in a band at that age because everyone was in it for the right reason, and that was just to have a good time. CG: Tell us more about your sing &amp;quot;Long Story Short.&amp;quot; JH: &amp;quot;Long Story Short&amp;quot; is the lead single off of my EP, and I always say that writing the song came out of necessity. I was expected to head out to these Universities and earn these degrees, but I really wanted to do something different with my life. Everyone always asks me what I&amp;#039;ve been doing, and the song and the album is sort of my answer to that - to make a &amp;quot;long story short&amp;quot; here&amp;#039;s what I&amp;#039;ve been up to, I&amp;#039;ve been blazing my own trail, meeting new people, falling in and out of love. The album is really the autobiographical story of my life. CG: Has being a musician helped your dating life? JH: I don&amp;#039;t know if it&amp;#039;s helped my dating life but it&amp;#039;s definitely made it more interesting - I think it allows me to connect with girls before I even meet them because they get to know me through my songs first. As of right now I&amp;#039;m still single though, so I guess it hasn&amp;#039;t helped too much.  CG: What do you look for in a girl? JH: I love really nice eyes, a great smile and a girl who&amp;#039;s really funny. I love trying new food and restaurants in NYC and I love going to the movies, so I think my perfect date would be sushi and a cool movie or maybe a picnic in the park. CG: Any dating deal breakers?  JH: I don&amp;#039;t like it when I&amp;#039;m on a date and the girl is texting or talking on the phone - that&amp;#039;s a big pet peeve of mine. I&amp;#039;m also not a big fan of texting while driving. CG: Do you have a celebrity crush? JH: My celebrity crushes are Taylor Swift and Blake Lively - that&amp;#039;s easy. CG: Do you have a dream musical collaboration? JH: My dream musical collaboration is Drake, Paul McCartney and Hayley Williams from the band Paramore. CG: Who&amp;#039;s your last call of the night? JH: Of course I don&amp;#039;t do this every night, but sometimes I&amp;#039;ll call my grandmother late at night before I go to sleep. She is really important to me and she&amp;#039;s always really sweet to talk to before I go to bed. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/a11993/crush-week-jackson-harris/>