Bobby McFerrin is a firm believer in the philosophy behind his most famous hit, Don't Worry Be Happy.
The American singer will turn 60 in March, but he is still touring the world at the same pace as when he turned 50, and he plans to continue for at least another 10 years.
"I think that if - God willing - I'm still alive at 70, I might decide not to do any more touring and concentrate on something else, like teaching and writing," he says. "I'm just a chilled-out guy at heart. I like to take long walks in the woods with my dog and hang out with my wife."
McFerrin's schedule is so hectic, however, that he sometimes struggles to remember which city he is visiting next. He is in Glasgow this week to perform a solo concert at Celtic Connections and to take part in the festival's education programme, performing to a group of school children.
"What age are the kids, do you know?" he asks. "I think they're teenagers. I spend a lot of time with high school kids because they are about to enter that stage of their life where they're making decisions about what they want to do with their future. They are very curious and they have a lot of questions. Why do you do what you do? Why do you do improvised music? I just answer them the best that I can."
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Although Don't Worry Be Happy is McFerrin's most successful song - it was a No 1 hit in the US and won Song of the Year at the 1988 Grammys - he is primarily known for his improvised singing. The first two pieces of every solo concert he performs are made up on the spot.
"I don't plan anything in advance," he says with a deep chuckle. "My first two pieces are always improvised: it's my own, personal rule. After that, anything goes - with the audience, without them. I have an extra microphone, I sit on the edge of the stage and invite somebody to come and sing with me. It's a free-for-all, a musical hang-out."
McFerrin has been performing this way for more than 30 years. Born in New York to a musical family - his father was the late operatic baritone Robert McFerrin, the first African-American to be a regular with the Metropolitan Opera - he developed a taste for a cappella singing at an early age, when he discovered his voice could do all kinds of strange and wonderful things.
"I don't think about whether it's going to work or not," he says of his improvised pieces. "The only time I am nervous is when I'm walking to my chair. I don't look at the audience for a good while because I'm trying to get myself centred. My first few moments on stage are mine. I listen to the environment, I listen to the acoustics in the hall and then when I'm ready and comfortable, I invite the audience in."
Sometimes the pieces can be up to 30 or 40 minutes long, which means his concerts rarely underrun. Though his sound man records most of them, he rarely listens back to the tapes. The improvised songs are heard once and then never again, no matter how good they turn out to be.
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"The experience of doing them is better than listening to them again," he says. "Sometimes they [the improvised pieces] are so fascinating I'm really intrigued by what comes out, so I spend extra time on them. Then there are times when a piece needs to be brief - even if I love it - so I'll sing for two minutes and it's done."
He talks about these songs as if they have a life and a mind of their own. "I really respect the piece that comes out," he says. "I actually find that there's something really beautiful about pieces that are only heard one time and then they are gone."
McFerrin's principal instrument is his voice. A pioneer of the beatbox technique, he switches rapidly between normal and falsetto registers to create polyphonic effects, allowing him to perform both the main melody and the accompanying parts of songs. He creates percussion with his mouth and by tapping on his chest. Don't Worry Be Happy was the first a cappella song to reach No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. What sound like instruments are actually overdubbed voice parts and other sounds made by McFerrin.
With more than 20m album sales, he is possibly the most successful experimental singer of all time, a vocal explorer who has combined jazz, folk and world music influences, choral, a cappella and classical music, but still achieved mainstream appeal with songs that invite gentle toe-tapping and visions of sun-drenched beaches. A classically trained pianist and conductor, he has collaborated with musicians as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.
"I'm always looking for somebody doing something really new," he says. "I'm so disappointed in pop music today. It just sounds the same. They're not writing songs, they are writing grooves. But I keep looking. I know they are out there."
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He spends hours trawling websites such as YouTube and MySpace looking for just a few minutes of something that's "going to inspire me. And I find it once in a while".
He recently stumbled upon a song by the improv jazz singer Gretchen Parlato that he found interesting enough to make him want to buy the album. He is saving it for the tour bus.
Many voices depreciate in quality and flexibility as they get older, but McFerrins's is in as good nick as it was when he started singing professionally in 1977. Much like a virtuoso violinist might watch over their Stradivarius, McFerrin takes great care of his vocal cords. His speaking voice never rises above a gentle, whispery New York drawl.
"When I'm about to do a tour, about two or three weeks before the first concert, I make sure I sing at least 30 minutes a day," he says. "It's like riding a bicycle: you might not ride it for a year but once you get on it, you know how to do it."
In the background, McFerrin's wife Debbie summons him to lunch. Married since 1975, with three children, they live outside Philadelphia on the edge of a wood. McFerrin's "greatest ambition" now is to spend as much time there as possible, even if he is booked through with gigs until mid-August.
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"I like being in my home. I enjoy the tranquillity of my home. So if you'll excuse me, I gotta go."
Bobby McFerrin, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, tomorrow, 8pm