0:08

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the

0:10

Bob West Podcast. My

0:13

guest today is the one and only Susie

0:15

Quatro. Susie, glad to have you

0:17

on the podcast. It's a it's a pleasure to be on

0:20

you. What the last name? You know, what nationality

0:22

is that name? You know how it is? The ancestors

0:25

came from the old country, They hit Allis Island

0:27

whatever it was, turned into something else,

0:30

and it's a Jewish name, but

0:33

the derivation even I'm not even sure.

0:35

My grandpa came over as Rocky

0:38

and he emigrated at Ellis Island and they took

0:41

one look at his name and they said he was a little boy. They

0:43

said, Michael Quatro done

0:47

okay, once again, pronounced

0:49

the name as it was before it was shortened Quatro

0:53

quatroky, Yeah, and they just for

0:56

four eyes and they just shortened it.

0:58

So he entered America as my Quatroll.

1:00

And that's the family name. And my dad told me a million

1:03

times that anybody with

1:05

the name Quatroll has got to be related

1:07

to us. Are there a lot of Quatrolls?

1:10

No, well there isn't. My family.

1:12

Millions in my family, but yeah,

1:15

there there's no there's not that many, and

1:17

there's no real Susie qus But me,

1:19

well, what about the song? I

1:21

said, there's no real Susie. Cuse

1:24

okay, okay, okay,

1:26

how did you decide on the spelling, because

1:28

there's different ways to spell Susie.

1:31

Oh God, I had a T shirt made up recently

1:33

and I'm going to sell him on my merch side. I hadn't

1:35

made up from my crew, and it says

1:38

six different names of Susie spelled

1:40

wrong, all crossed out and then at

1:42

the bottom and has it correct. I've been spelling.

1:45

My name has been spelled every which I get

1:47

s u s I E s u z y s

1:50

u z i e as and and then I get

1:52

quatrill quadrille. I

1:56

just decided in the Pleasure Seekers, when

1:58

we were all taking stage names, that I

2:00

would be Susie A s u z I,

2:03

soul a s o U. Well, because

2:05

I did a lot of otis writing and stuff

2:08

like that way back when I was fourteen. I don't

2:10

know how that spelling came out, but it just looked

2:12

right. And everybody

2:14

has asked me, everybody, including

2:17

Mickey most, what's your real name?

2:20

Because it looks and sounds like a stage

2:23

name, doesn't it? Yeah, Well, the question

2:25

becomes many

2:27

people changed their last name when

2:30

they have an ethnic or hard to pronounce

2:32

uh last name. So,

2:34

but when it was the Pleasure Seekers, you were Susie

2:36

Q, but it was still Quadr. Do you ever think you're gonna

2:39

be like Susie Smith or something

2:41

else? No? No, And in fact that

2:44

was funny because when I got to England after

2:46

I was discovered and put solo by

2:48

Mickey most Um, we were sitting

2:50

in his office when I first arrived. And because

2:54

I have been calling myself Susie Soul always,

2:56

I'm born Susan K Quadro, always

2:58

Susie. And I said to me, a key, so

3:01

I'm gonna have to think of I don't want to be Susie, so I have to

3:03

think of a good stage name. What should be?

3:05

And he said, are you kidding me?

3:08

I went, what he said, sissit Quatro

3:10

was about the best name I've ever heard, And

3:12

I went, oh, so just be me. He said,

3:15

yeah, just be you. That's

3:17

good. Okay, you are sitting

3:19

a room with umpteen gold

3:22

records and platinum records. Where exactly

3:25

are you right now? I am in the

3:27

dining Actually, I call it the bragging room.

3:29

Um, it's the dining room of my fifteen

3:33

century. It is beat in a manor house,

3:36

nine bedrooms, three and a half acres um.

3:39

I've been here since nineteen eighty. I'm

3:42

actually gonna be buried

3:44

out there. I'm gonna be cremated and are

3:47

good at my ashes? Put around a

3:50

four bass guitar carved

3:53

out of an old tree that died. Have you seen wood

3:55

carvers how they do that? So four bass

3:57

guitars coming out of the ground

4:00

that I said, that's where I want my ashes with

4:02

a planque. And I've been here for a long

4:04

time. It's the longest I've ever lived anywhere. I

4:06

love this house, absolutely

4:09

love it. If I'm gonna be locked down, this

4:11

is where I want to be. Okay,

4:13

because even though you're American, most Americans

4:15

really don't have a comprehension. So let's

4:17

try to locate it. How far from

4:20

London is your house? Uh?

4:24

Sixty? Okay?

4:27

And where it is is that like rural?

4:30

Is there a town? What's there? Like?

4:33

There is a town? I live in between two towns.

4:35

I live fifteen minutes from

4:37

a very good airport, which standstead.

4:40

I live fifteen minutes there there

4:42

you go fifteen minutes to around the

4:45

county town of Essex. So I'm

4:47

fifteen minutes away from Chelmsford and

4:49

fifteen minutes away from Braintree. That way,

4:51

Um, there's a great train service into London.

4:54

But I'm secluded. This is what I like. I

4:56

can be somewhere if I want to secluded.

5:00

How much property do you have? Three

5:02

and a half acres? And

5:04

do you own the house outright? I

5:07

bought it out right? Wow?

5:10

And I bought my first house out right when I was

5:12

twenty And where was that house?

5:15

That was about twenty minutes from here?

5:17

Because when I married my guitar player,

5:19

my ex um,

5:22

when we we wanted to move somewhere

5:24

near one set of parents. My parents are in Detroit,

5:27

so we moved more near his parents.

5:29

That leaves near family, you know. And

5:32

then but then we came out here. I found this house on

5:34

the cover cover a big house magazine

5:37

and pulled about the front there and this,

5:39

you know how you get a feeling this is my

5:41

house? And is there a wall a

5:44

gate? There

5:46

is two big brick

5:49

pillars. There's a walled garden

5:51

here with flowers. There's an orchard back

5:53

there just beautiful with

5:55

food trees and everything. Um. There's

5:58

a brick pillars there too.

6:00

There's three floors, nine bedrooms.

6:03

On the third floor, I

6:05

have my ego room. Okay,

6:10

okay, you have I

6:12

love it. Um. You have to

6:14

go up two flights of stairs. The

6:16

second flight is very precarious. You

6:19

can bang your head on the ceiling. You know, it's

6:21

crooked and everything. It's it's it sounds

6:23

like an analogy, but it's the extra truth. And

6:26

you finally get to this big, heavy wooden door

6:28

at the end of the at the end of the house, and

6:30

it says on the door, I had a sign made

6:33

and it says Ego room.

6:36

Mind your head, and you

6:38

go in and this

6:41

is your life book. Um. Pictures

6:44

everywhere, posters, jumpsuits

6:48

over here, bass guitars,

6:51

seeds, videos. I mean absolutely

6:54

every inch is covered with

6:56

me, everything I've done from the beginning

6:58

of my career up to the present day.

7:00

And you kind of go in if

7:03

you want to, and you enjoy and

7:05

you come out and then you shut

7:08

the door. And this is how I survive

7:10

in this business. You shut the

7:12

door. I leave my ego up on

7:14

the third floor. How often do you go up

7:16

there? At least twenty five times

7:19

at night door. And I don't know that

7:21

was a good question. I don't go up there much at all, actually

7:24

not at all. Lots of times I go up to

7:26

do a job if i'm

7:28

writing something, because I'm on my sixth book now,

7:31

and sometimes I need information, And

7:33

certainly when I wrote my autobiography,

7:36

if you had a black spot, you know, a memory

7:38

block, you can go up there. You'd find the

7:41

year on a tour book or a scrap book or

7:43

something, and you could. And I really spent the light

7:45

a lot of time up there then. But sometimes

7:47

every now and again, you just go up and you pull

7:50

out the old tapes. And

7:52

when I when I let people go up there, I

7:54

don't see them for two days. Okay.

8:00

Now. Bill Wyman, famously of

8:02

the Stones, famously collected everything.

8:05

How much of your stuff do you have? Everything?

8:09

Um? Oh my god. I

8:12

made it a point of getting every

8:15

article about me, And at first I used

8:18

to put him in square books and all that. I

8:20

don't do that so much anymore. But I have just about

8:22

every article has ever been written on me. So

8:25

many videotapes, so many videos of

8:27

every show I've ever done, all the CDs,

8:29

all the records, um let me see.

8:32

Pictures are just awards,

8:35

stage passes. Everything

8:38

I used to collect when

8:40

I was like fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

8:42

seventeen, all the hotel

8:44

room keys, and I kept him in a

8:47

big hues tin waste

8:49

paper basket. And then I got

8:51

bored of that, so I went down to the local mailbox

8:54

and poured them all in. That

8:57

was bad at me. I can imagine that that that

9:00

mail man when he came to get because it

9:02

says it says, you know, mailer back

9:04

to this address. I put them all in. I got bored

9:06

with that. But I've got everything, just about

9:09

everything. Okay, no one lives forever

9:12

when you do move on? What's going to happen

9:14

to all the stuff in the ego room?

9:17

I am hoping. I've tried to set it

9:19

up so it is this way that my um

9:22

my son will take over the house and

9:25

this house will be

9:27

my legacy. This is what I want to happen.

9:30

I kind of want my this is

9:32

my graceland. How else can I

9:34

say? You know, I mean maybe even someday

9:36

people would like to come and see it. Who knows. I

9:38

wanted to continue. I don't want this house, so I've

9:41

put that in my will. Okay,

9:44

now, many people have a

9:46

family, the kids move out

9:49

and they wanted downsize. Growing

9:51

up, always wanted a big house, I could have one room

9:54

for everything. Never quite hit

9:56

that. But what's it like living

9:58

with so few p ballue in such a big

10:01

house. Well, it

10:03

was full at one point, for it

10:05

started off with just me and my ex, and then we had

10:07

two kids, and plus we didn't live

10:09

in nanny, so the house was full and

10:11

that kind of stayed even after

10:14

after we divorced, got married a year

10:16

later to somebody else. Um, I

10:18

always needed a nanny here

10:20

because I work, and you know, my kids were little,

10:23

and then we had two people staying

10:25

here and living here. One was a gardener and

10:28

moment was the nanny. And then finally

10:31

they were old enough that I could get rid of

10:33

the nanny's and my

10:36

daughter moved out first. Then

10:38

my son moved out, and that

10:41

was not nice at first.

10:43

Of course, I was rambling around

10:45

this house and I oh my I hated

10:48

it. Didn't even want to go to the third floors.

10:50

But he used to live, my son. So what

10:52

I've done now is I've made

10:55

every rear dream, every

10:57

single room in this house has

10:59

a of Chris every

11:01

single moment. Even on the third floor. I've

11:04

made two of the rooms into two extra bedrooms

11:07

in case I have guests over. One of them

11:10

became my mother's room. She's been gone

11:12

a long time, but I I

11:14

ended up by accident putting

11:17

a cover. She got me, putting a pillow, she

11:19

got me putting pictures of her, putting a big

11:21

portrait of my mom and dad, and everybody

11:23

calls that. The kids call that grandma's

11:25

room, so it became her room.

11:28

You know. I don't know how that happened. But my

11:30

son uses one room for his guitar

11:32

repair room. Uh. There's another

11:35

bedroom on the third floor that my granddaughter

11:37

has claimed as hers. There's my ego room.

11:40

The next floor there's one,

11:42

two, three, four more bedrooms.

11:46

Only one of them is used now, but I

11:48

do have people stay over if I have guests,

11:50

you know. And then down here, I've got

11:53

the TV room, the laundry room, I got

11:55

a patio out there, got a studio in the back,

11:57

which is fantastic on the grounds. I

11:59

got my dining room here and in there.

12:01

In there is mys the oldest

12:04

part of the house, and that's where

12:06

I write and I can't write

12:08

anywhere else, and I've tried it everywhere. That's

12:11

my writing room. I got my guitar, even

12:13

though it's my main lounge and it should

12:15

be everything perfect. I've got all my guitars

12:17

in there, you know. I got my pen and my paper,

12:20

my sheet music, and my my white

12:22

piano that's never moved since I

12:24

moved in. Um, that's the creative

12:26

room. That room in there. Okay,

12:29

there's a lot of questions here. One

12:33

do you are you the type person who's a homebody

12:36

or if you go into town everybody knows

12:38

you. You say, Hi, what's your

12:41

forgetting COVID? For a minute before that, what's

12:43

your lifestyle? Sort of like, UM,

12:47

I made a choice in

12:50

nineteen seventy

12:52

three, and it was after the

12:54

first time I was on television

12:57

with my first number one can the Can and

13:00

uh. We watched it, my

13:02

me and my ex, and then we went out to

13:04

the local public we always go for

13:06

a drink, and we

13:09

walked in and the place erupted.

13:12

It's her, it's her, it's her, it's I went what

13:15

what we had to leave? The pub never

13:18

happened to me before, so I

13:20

kind of thought about it started

13:22

to happen and happen, it happen, and then I thought, okay, I can

13:26

baseball cap ponytail, dark glasses

13:28

and hide, or I can

13:30

just say hi. And I

13:32

chose hi. It must

13:35

have happened eight times yesterday

13:37

in town, five times today.

13:39

And it's it's so funny because it happens the same way.

13:41

Every time you're walking by and sew you, somebody

13:44

will go and

13:46

I'll just go yes, and

13:48

they just because you know what they're gonna

13:50

say, um so I say hello. Yes.

13:52

Sure that They added a little, but it got a little

13:55

bit crazy. I was in the post

13:57

office. This has never happened before,

14:00

and of course you started talking and then everybody sees

14:02

you, and everybody's looking and better. It happens all

14:04

that, especially when you're in a line, you

14:06

know, and then people and they start they start

14:08

to a whisper, look whisier, gout it out it out. Anyway,

14:11

the lady next to me here, she got very friendly. She

14:13

said, oh my god, oh my god. Then she was going on

14:15

and on on that. She went, can I can

14:17

I ask your favorite? And I thought she wanted a selfie?

14:19

I said sure. She said, can I just play

14:21

you some of my favorite songs from my

14:24

um on my phone. So

14:27

I just sit and listen to her

14:29

favorite songs on her phone while the line was getting

14:31

up to them and

14:33

you and you can't be rude. You

14:37

know you can't do that. She doesn't mean any harm.

14:39

But that's the last thing I wanted to do,

14:42

is listen to her favorite song. So

14:45

that's actually quite funny. Does

14:47

it ever get old? And

14:49

are you ever upset if people don't

14:51

recognize you? Um?

14:56

No. In fact, I made quite a joke out

14:58

of it. Sometimes, you know,

15:00

I'll go into it. I do it on purpose. I'll go someplace

15:02

and maybe I'm ordering

15:04

something from the guy and he's taking my information.

15:07

I went into an art shop just yesterday,

15:09

brand new art shop, and I said, how much is

15:11

that huge? What I picked

15:13

out? A million and a half. I said, Jesus Christ,

15:15

I got good taste. Anybody. We're talking talking,

15:18

and I saw that he didn't know who I

15:20

was. So as we're talking,

15:22

I said, by the way, I

15:24

said, I'm very famous, and he went, you

15:27

are. I said, yes, I am, So this

15:29

is what I do. He goes, what's your name? I said,

15:31

Susy Quadro, google it. You googled it.

15:33

He went, Oh my god, I said, next

15:36

time I come in, know who I am. So I I

15:38

do do that a lot of times.

15:40

I'll see youngsters. I say, you might not know me, but you

15:42

should sense

15:45

of humor at all times. Okay,

15:48

are you always on? You're

15:50

like, you're very on in this moment. Is

15:53

that who you just are? Or

15:56

is it just when you know the mic is on? No?

15:59

No, I'm I'm I've been told.

16:03

In fact, the phrase used to describe

16:05

me by people who know me best as I am

16:07

exhausting. But

16:10

I take that as a compliment. I

16:17

Um, I'm a glass softball

16:19

girl. Um. I

16:22

love conversation. That's

16:25

my key. I love conversation. Uh,

16:27

nice glass of wine and a conversation.

16:30

I'm a happy girl. I love to argue the

16:32

toss into the middle of the night. You know so, but

16:34

there there there is a quieter shore when

16:37

nobody's around. I well,

16:40

my way of being quiet. If

16:42

I'm not watching a movie, which I love

16:44

movies. I watched movies all the time. I'm a bit

16:47

of a movie buff. Um. I

16:49

will watch something my way of relaxing.

16:51

I'll have agressive ryan, I'll watch

16:53

who wants to be a millionaire on TV and at

16:55

the same time, I'll be doing

16:58

online scrabble. Who

17:00

are you playing with? Who

17:03

have words with friends? I

17:05

mean? Are these always with friends? Who you play

17:07

with? Anonymous people? Any anybody?

17:09

I'll play with anybody. I just I just like to win.

17:13

Are you pretty damn

17:15

good? Pretty damn

17:17

good? I'm I'm something like twelve

17:20

or thirteen and the big you know, and lots

17:22

and lots of people say I'm pretty good. I

17:24

have I've learned a lot of the weird words, and

17:27

you know, I love word games. Anyway,

17:29

I'm one of those people. And

17:31

I'm waiting for somebody to tell me the

17:35

scholastic word for this talent that I

17:37

have. I'm gonna have to look it up, maybe google

17:39

it. You know, when you have a word wheel and

17:42

it's got one letter in the center and

17:44

then like cut like a pie, and like eight letters

17:46

around it, and you have to make as

17:48

many words as you can for letters and more,

17:51

yeah, and use all the and then it makes

17:53

one big word. You look at it and

17:55

one big word is made out of that. I

17:57

can guess it with three

18:01

or four seconds, sometimes instantaneously,

18:04

and I and I know there's a word

18:06

for that is it? I

18:09

can make that. I can make sense out of the chaos.

18:11

I can put the jumbled words together. And

18:14

I don't know how I do that or why I do. It's

18:16

the way my brain works. It sees the word.

18:19

Is there a word for that? Not that I'm aware

18:21

of. But no, I'm not as good with words as you

18:24

are. Let's go

18:26

back to a second. You watch movies.

18:29

You watch movies essentially every night. Yeah,

18:33

pretty much, kind

18:35

of like a routine. When I'm not on the road, of course

18:38

I will watch. I'm a routine girl.

18:40

Okay, to your two favorite movies,

18:44

God, it's so boring Gone with the Wind,

18:46

I'm sorry, I just never get tired

18:48

of it. I actually know the

18:51

entire dialogue of that movie,

18:54

every character. My husband one

18:56

time was sitting on the bed and we were watching

18:58

it just because we felt like watching it, and he didn't

19:00

watch the movie. He looked at me because I

19:03

did every bit of dialogue. And I think

19:05

my other favorite movie, it's hard to pick two. I'd

19:07

say probably all about Eve. Okay.

19:10

And do you tend to watch the movies

19:13

over as obviously as the case with Gone with the Wind,

19:16

or are you always interested in watching something

19:18

new. Well, I

19:20

do like to watch new movies, but I'm afraid

19:23

I'm a very impatient Gemini, and

19:25

it's got to grab me. It's

19:28

got to grab me. And you can grab me from

19:30

the titles alone. But if I start

19:32

to watch a movie and they're casting

19:35

whoever they've cast in the plot does and pulled me

19:37

in the movies off? And yes,

19:39

I do watch movies I like again and

19:41

again and again. I will do that. I'm

19:43

quite anal um. I'll read books I

19:45

like again and again and again. Right now, idiot

19:48

that I am. I asked my husband

19:50

to send me the complete works of

19:52

Friederich Nietzsche. And you

19:54

want to talk about heavy reading, Let's

19:57

go back to the beginning. What inspired you to want

19:59

to read that. I have been writing

20:02

a psychological

20:05

book, my sixth novel,

20:07

my second novel, but my sixth book.

20:09

And it's all about

20:12

people that meet six people that meet up better

20:15

psychology class. And I'm

20:17

getting very much into the mind. And so many

20:20

books that I've read people mentioned this guy

20:22

as being incredible, and I always

20:25

wondered, what's so good about him? And I even said

20:27

to my husband, because he's a German philosopher,

20:29

he said, Oh, Susie, he's he's hard

20:32

going and that made me money. He

20:34

is hard going boy. You have to really really

20:37

dive in. I

20:39

don't think he was a very happy man. So

20:43

what have you learned that

20:45

he really can talk? He he

20:48

I've learned that he's um.

20:51

He finds a way of making one

20:53

sentence jumping

20:56

about eighteen different areas, and

20:59

he finds a descript where even he

21:01

finds out how to He has an adjective for an

21:03

adjective. If you see what I

21:05

mean? You know, okay,

21:07

you but you have to do is you have to read

21:09

it very slowly and take

21:11

it in and I'm determined. I'm determined

21:14

to do it. I've read Warren Peace, you know, so I'm

21:16

one of those. Have

21:24

you read an k No?

21:27

I think that's the best book ever written. It

21:29

depends on the translation unless knowing

21:31

you you learned Russians to read it. But

21:34

I literally think, you know, there's this philosophical

21:37

elements. Some people skip through those. But

21:40

it's just amazing how president

21:42

and how easy it is to read. But

21:46

you know you're talking about doing all

21:49

this reading. It's well, let me go. Have you

21:51

talked about psychology? Have you ever been

21:53

in therapy. Um,

21:57

that's one of the jobs I wanted to do if I hadn't

21:59

gone into show business at fourteen. Professionally,

22:02

UM, I was very much interested. I'm an

22:04

art chair of psychologist. I one time

22:06

went only one time, and

22:08

it was after my divorce.

22:11

I was with my ex for twenty years. I'm

22:13

a Catholic girl. You don't divorce. I

22:15

had two kids, so it really I

22:17

wanted to go. It really messed me up. There was nobody

22:20

else I wanted to go. And I met

22:22

my future husband and

22:24

we were newly married, and I

22:27

I didn't want to visit. My

22:30

old problems are my old

22:33

failings, my my ex husband's

22:35

failings on him. Do you see what I mean?

22:38

Yeah? I went to see it a psychiatrist

22:40

one time and I talked about this to me

22:43

to him and I said, um, I always remember

22:45

it. I said to him,

22:48

why didn't he loved

22:51

me the way I wanted him to love me?

22:53

And he didn't want the divorce. I was the big love of his

22:55

life. And he looked at me and he said, Susie,

22:58

you went to the butchers for

23:00

perfume. He didn't have it

23:02

on a shelf. Wow.

23:07

Wow, I thought that was brilliant,

23:09

a brilliant way to explain it. But

23:12

he loved me, how he could love me. Okay,

23:15

did you meet and was it a romance

23:17

with your new husband before you got

23:19

divorced or after you got divorced? Oh my god,

23:21

No, I didn't. It wasn't way. I didn't

23:24

even know him. Um.

23:26

I was single for a year, single

23:28

for a year. He had booked me, and I knew who

23:30

he was, but absolutely nothing. I

23:33

just just my husband and I ran out

23:35

of steam. He we just ran out of steam.

23:37

We grew apart. We're good friends now to this

23:39

day. But ran out of steam,

23:41

not for him, but for me, love him, not in

23:43

love anymore. But the new one booked

23:45

me. You know, he just booked me.

23:49

Okay, wait, wait, a couple of questions. Did

23:52

your ex husband ever get remarried?

23:55

No? And I

23:58

find that very sad because I

24:00

would have loved him to have settled down

24:03

to somebody else. But in

24:05

all honesty, and he said it, you

24:07

know, he said it to me before he said it to anybody

24:09

who listens. I was a big one and

24:12

I don't think he wanted to play the hand again.

24:14

You know, he's been with people is that everybody

24:16

didn't. He didn't stay with anybody.

24:18

But you know, it's great.

24:20

We have a great friendship. He comes over and sits in

24:23

the studio while his son and I record

24:25

together. Are our son, and he's

24:27

he's very very much into the process,

24:29

loves watching, you know, loves being part

24:32

of it. Um. I'm glad

24:34

that we could stay close. It's

24:36

important. Now your present

24:38

husband is a German concert promoter.

24:41

Is that true? Correct? Okay?

24:43

You are an American transplanted

24:46

to the UK. And although we live more

24:48

of a global village than we did, then

24:51

English people are different than

24:53

American people. Yes, and

24:55

then one step beyond that is German.

24:58

What's it like being involved with a German

25:00

guy? Oh? Well,

25:02

okay, Germans Germans.

25:05

Um. The annoying

25:07

thing about German people is how correct

25:10

they are, and if even

25:12

if they're gonna fold up a piece of paper and put

25:14

it into an envelope, it's done perfectly.

25:16

And this can drive you mad. You know, German

25:19

efficiency, They really are efficient. I

25:21

mean I one time was standing in amber

25:23

at a light. There was

25:26

no cars and I crossed,

25:28

and the way they looked at me, I thought I was gonna get shot

25:30

at Sunrise because I went

25:32

against the rules, you

25:34

know. Um,

25:37

yes, it's a it's a it's a strange

25:40

match in that way because I'm

25:42

very Detroit, you know, and he's

25:44

very German. But he's

25:46

been a promoter for many years and worked with a lot

25:48

of American acts, a lot of British acts,

25:51

so you know bits of it,

25:53

rub Off. I mean, it was a

25:55

big shock when I came here to England.

25:57

You know, it's so different to America, but

25:59

it were it works somehow. I

26:01

don't know the language, okay,

26:04

but he speaks, you know, many Germans do speak

26:06

English. He speaks You're

26:09

very American, very upfront

26:11

centered whatever, you know.

26:13

The English tend to be more reserved, at

26:15

least with their feelings. Okay,

26:18

what is the general personality

26:20

Since you're so closely involved for decades with a

26:22

German, obviously their language

26:25

is different and they're more rigid, as you

26:27

say, But are as the forthcoming

26:29

as Americans? Are they like Americans? Are they still

26:31

different? Well? They

26:34

they do speak their mind, but they

26:37

I think just by the nature of the

26:39

way the language sounds. It's

26:42

a guttable language, you know. I mean

26:45

when when when when your husband says to

26:47

you and that means

26:49

I love you. I mean, that doesn't sound nice, doesn't

26:54

you know what I mean? It just doesn't work.

26:56

Um No, they're very straightforward,

27:00

very straightforward. They tend to be more

27:04

harsh with their comments. They don't pretty

27:06

things up kind of

27:08

boom you know at this my husband

27:10

does. Anyway, he's got a big mouth.

27:12

I got a big mouth too. So I am

27:14

the optimists

27:17

and he's the pessimist, and so we

27:19

we complete the picture for each other. Does

27:21

it bother you that he's a pessimist. Well,

27:24

it's actually part of my book that I'm writing. But

27:28

that's a fiction book. The fiction

27:30

book I created two

27:32

main characters out

27:35

of the six psychology students, and

27:38

one of them is called Penelope Perfect

27:41

and she's she's the optimist.

27:43

And the other one is called Max Morose.

27:46

He's the bits, which I

27:48

know he's

27:50

gonna recognize himself. But tell you, Okay,

27:55

now you're someone who's reading Nietzsche,

27:58

writing books, playing

28:00

scrabble words with friends, very

28:03

into uh

28:05

words. Yet you dropped out

28:08

of high school. So

28:11

do you feel any inadequacy

28:14

there, something you're covering up for or

28:17

that's not a factor whatsoever? Um?

28:20

Well, I've always been clever, and I don't

28:22

mind saying that I'm a clever girl. Uh,

28:26

I did leave school early, and

28:29

I have a

28:31

unquenchable thirst for analogy. I

28:33

always said, maybe that is because I left

28:36

early. But you know, but then again, when

28:39

I used to be at school like Kenny Levn

28:41

TV and all that, and the summer vacation

28:43

would start, I would go

28:46

home and the next day I would

28:48

play school. Is

28:51

that crazy? It is to me? But

28:53

keep going, that's not so? But

28:56

um saying that, Yeah,

28:59

I'm very well read. Maybe it's to make up for

29:01

the fact that I did in grade right high school. But

29:03

I am now Dr Quatroll by

29:05

the way, officially, Okay, where'd you get your

29:07

degree at Cambridge?

29:09

Honorary Doctor of Music? Wait?

29:11

Wait, Cambridge like Oxford and Cambridge.

29:15

I got made honorary Doctor

29:17

of Music at Cambridge October two thousand

29:19

sixteen. I am officially Doctor Quatroll.

29:22

Okay, tell me the backstory there.

29:25

Well, they called me up and they

29:27

wrote to me and they said, we'd like to honor

29:29

you. Would you like to be honored?

29:31

I said, are you kidding me? I

29:33

mean I say it on stage, I say, I

29:36

say, I am officially Dr Quatro.

29:38

You know, I can't believe it. I was in tears.

29:41

I was in cap and gown, you

29:44

know me. Wow.

29:47

But that's as good as it gets, I

29:49

know. I mean, that's better

29:51

than Yale or Harvard, I mean Cambridge

29:53

Oxford gets. That's that's the top.

29:56

You banged the gong, as they say.

29:59

I know, Dr Quatro, I can't believe

30:01

it. Every time I think about it. I'm allowed to use

30:03

it in my passport and I'm Dr

30:05

Quatro. And when I stood up to make

30:07

my speech, my husband was in

30:09

tears, and I

30:11

wanted to hold it all together. You know, all these academics

30:14

out there, Jay's McCambridge

30:16

and at my speech

30:19

here. But I pushed it

30:21

over. That's so much me. I

30:23

pushed it over and and I just started to

30:25

talk. And the

30:27

basic gist of what I said was we

30:30

all, we all have a job in life,

30:33

and every one of us, and it doesn't

30:35

matter rich, poor, black, white, doesn't matter. We all have

30:37

a job, and that's to go inside

30:39

and find that little light and

30:42

turn it on and let nobody

30:44

ever switch it off. And then I started

30:46

to cry, Oh

30:49

dear, what a moment, What a moment, I'll

30:51

be forever proud of that, staying

30:54

with staying with education. Were you

30:56

when you were in school for a long time? Good

30:58

student, bad student, class clown friends?

31:01

What was that like? I was

31:03

a pretty good student. Um.

31:06

I excelled at believe it or not. You have

31:08

music, English,

31:11

um, geography crap um,

31:14

math crap, science and I didn't

31:16

care home economics I failed dreadfully.

31:19

Um. Can you can you cook

31:21

today? I

31:23

am not known from my cooking

31:25

I do. I do my cooking

31:28

in the bedroom. I used to always say that. Um.

31:32

I would say, Oh, my mother

31:34

kept for me all of bigfold,

31:37

all the kids off five kids, religiously,

31:40

every report card, every immunization,

31:43

you know, and she gave it to us when we left home.

31:46

And I was looking at my report

31:49

cards just the other day, old ones,

31:51

seventh eighth grade, and one

31:53

of the teachers had written, if

31:56

Susie could concentrate

31:58

a little bit more instead

32:00

of trying to be popular, she would

32:03

do very well. Well guess what. Guess

32:05

what made me famous trying to

32:08

be popular? Yes, exactly,

32:10

So she got it wrong. Okay,

32:12

you know you're talking about technical

32:15

stuff. Before we began. Dudge

32:17

says, you're pretty up on technical

32:19

and say no, no, no, and you're giving examples.

32:21

So how good are you with technical

32:23

stuff? You ran that, no problem.

32:26

Well, you gotta remember my

32:29

generation was not a computer generation,

32:31

so I had when I finally started to

32:33

learn it, I had to learn

32:36

as you need to learn kind of thing. I'm not

32:38

too bad now, you know. I can do

32:40

certain things, but I get things wrong. I mean

32:43

I went into the studio the other day when my

32:45

son was recording with two other guys in there,

32:48

and I said, Richard, we need to work

32:50

on that one song. Did you get the stem cells?

32:53

And he just went and

32:56

the best one, the best one to

32:58

see. I've told everybody this because it's

33:00

amazing that fifty eight years

33:02

in the business that I could do this. I

33:05

was sitting in the and it's not technical

33:07

thing, it's it's something else, sitting in there with

33:09

my guitar, and I had this

33:12

tuner right, and

33:14

I wasn't sure how to use it because

33:17

I've never used it before because I've

33:19

had hits. So people tuned for me. So

33:21

anyway, I put this tuner

33:25

on the tuning

33:27

peg. It's

33:29

called the tuning peg tuner. That's

33:32

what we've named it. Now. It's a headstock tuner.

33:34

But I didn't know this, so I couldn't

33:37

figure out how you made it work. So I figured

33:39

it would pick up the vibrations from each string.

33:41

Because I put it, don't even go there.

33:44

I put it on the tuning peg,

33:46

and I'm and I've got it on that and I'm following

33:48

it around as I'm tuning it to see

33:50

how it's and my son came in and

33:53

he went, Mom, he screamed

33:55

to me, and I went, what I knew I was doing something

33:57

wrong? He said, what do you do? I start up tuning

34:00

a Mom, it's a headstock

34:02

tuner. Where do you think you put it?

34:05

I said? Oh? And you

34:07

wouldn't believe that somebody could do something so

34:09

stupid. Do

34:12

you normally have common

34:15

sense and these are just outliers

34:17

or you're not known for your common sense.

34:21

I can be

34:24

both. I'm extremely quick

34:26

with it. I'm very clever, and

34:28

I can do really dumb things too. I'm

34:30

just like that. And it's only because

34:34

in my brain I thought I can figure

34:36

this out. No, I couldn't.

34:39

It made logical sense to me, Oh don't.

34:41

It's so embarrassing. How could I

34:43

do that? It's a head stock tuner, but

34:46

we all call it now a tuning peg tuner.

34:48

It's changed names. Okay, let's go back

34:50

to Detroit. So there are five kids in

34:53

the family. Not everybody is

34:55

completely familiar with your history. So

34:57

where are you in the hierarchy? I

35:00

I am the fourth out of five, my

35:03

eldest sister Artie, then my brother Mickey, than

35:05

Patty, than me, and then Nancy.

35:07

Then how many years between everybody?

35:09

Oh? God, let me think. My dad always called

35:11

it his two wave of kids. So

35:14

are Lean and Mickey I think are two years

35:16

apart, and then

35:18

there was like five or six years and

35:20

then Patty, me and Nancy. So you

35:22

have the two, and I think there was a couple of miscarriages

35:25

in there and stuff because my mom was always

35:27

pregnant. I think she had nine pregnancies and five

35:29

kids. So yeah, there's there those

35:31

two and then the US three. And those

35:34

two were off married and the kids and everything.

35:36

And it was my elder sister, Patty and

35:38

I that started the band. Okay,

35:41

you call him Mickey. For those

35:43

of us who don't know him, we call him Mike.

35:46

So was he Mickey or Michael? What's the story?

35:48

We always called him Mickey? But as I

35:50

think, he always went professionally as Michael Quadrille

35:53

or Mike Quadrille, but us kids,

35:55

we always called him Mickey. I never called

35:57

him Michael never. Okay, So just to be clear,

36:00

how old were those kids? The oldest

36:02

two kids relatives to the next three kids. But,

36:05

um, let me see Arleen. Okay, Arlein,

36:07

now is hang?

36:10

I gotta see, I'm dumb at Matt's

36:12

seventy one. She's gonna be eighty this year,

36:15

so she's nine years older. Mickey

36:17

is seventy eight, Patty

36:20

is I'm seventy

36:22

one, Patty is seventy

36:25

four, and then Nancy

36:27

is sixty nine. So the

36:30

three of us are worked together in those two Leans

36:32

nine years old and Mickey seven years older, and

36:35

then there was five years between Patty, me and Nancy.

36:37

Okay, you know, I grew

36:39

up in a family with only three kids. I'm

36:42

the boy in between two girls, and traditionally

36:44

there's a middle child syndrome. Every

36:46

child has a different you know, psychology.

36:49

So were you kind of lost

36:51

in the shuffle or did you get a lot

36:53

of attention where were you in the family.

36:56

Um, I wrote a lot of songs based

36:58

on this. I talked about a quite openly. I

37:01

was UM, the square

37:03

peg in the round hole. Always. That's how I saw

37:06

myself. I mean a lot of its perception, you

37:08

know, but that's how I perceived it. I didn't fit

37:10

anywhere my whole life. I didn't fit anywhere.

37:12

I didn't know where I fit in the family. I didn't know where

37:15

I fit in the world. I didn't know where I fit

37:17

um until I but

37:20

on stage that first time. That

37:23

that's catting it short, but that's the truth.

37:25

Fourteen did our first gig. I remember getting

37:27

up there with my basse and I went in my

37:29

head, I went, I'm home. Then I

37:31

fit. What happens when you don't fit

37:33

anywhere? And when you you're one

37:35

of the crowd with five kids, you're one of the crowd.

37:38

You know, It's just how it is. And

37:41

Right says I was the Cinderella syndrome,

37:45

that I was the dark purse. Nobody better. I'm

37:48

not so sure if he's got that right, but maybe

37:50

he does. But I know that

37:52

the whole time I was growing up, I

37:55

was searching from my voice

37:58

for what was like the speech I made,

38:01

for what my thing was. And I noticed

38:04

quite young, like maybe eight

38:06

seven or eight when we started to do family

38:09

shows. We always did family shows. My dad was

38:12

a musician, and we would sing and play

38:14

and you know all that kind of stuff. And I noticed very

38:16

young that whenever I

38:19

did my little bit, whatever it might be, the

38:21

room stopped and

38:23

watched me. And

38:26

I remember going into my brain, I'm

38:28

good at this. I'm good at

38:30

entertaining a crowd. I knew it from very

38:32

young. So I think that's how my life

38:34

developed after that. I could tell a joe,

38:37

I could do a sketch, I could act a scene.

38:40

I could play bongles, I could play piano, I

38:42

could I could reside a poem. So

38:44

whatever I was doing, it

38:47

would hold hold the people. And

38:49

that's kind of like why I guess I did

38:52

what I did. Okay, so

38:54

you're good on stage, needless to say,

38:56

you can't be on stage. No one can be on stage

38:58

more than like two hours. And I so

39:01

if this late date as your go older, what's it

39:03

like being lost stage? Um?

39:06

Do you mean right now? Well?

39:08

I mean in your life and your interior life.

39:10

Okay, yeah, yeah,

39:12

Um, well I mean

39:14

I I give everything on stage. That's

39:16

my that's my

39:18

love. I love entertaining UM,

39:21

I'll never get tired of It's still every gig,

39:24

it's the same. Just before I go out, I

39:27

think, oh God, I hope they liked me. That's

39:29

always that same attitude when I'm not on

39:31

stage. I'm not on stage. That's

39:34

the performing part of my life. You know,

39:36

I don't have to be okay. But as

39:39

I say, if let's assume I

39:42

dropped by and I said, Hey, we're gonna go hang at

39:44

people's houses and it's gonna be like fifteen

39:47

people, there is that something

39:49

like you're gonna say, WHOA, this isn't gonna

39:51

work for me, and say, oh, I want to go.

39:54

I'll talk to everybody, which which where do

39:56

you feel? Internally? Um,

40:00

I'm more comfortable one to one.

40:04

And I've been told by a lot of different

40:07

people through the years that if they're having

40:09

a dinner party that

40:11

they know that they can sit me anywhere and

40:13

I will start a conversation with who I'm with.

40:16

I'm not so comfortable walking into parties

40:19

of people. I don't know why.

40:21

I feel a little bit shy. Believe it or not, Yeah,

40:24

I have. My mom always told me that I was a very

40:26

shy little girl. There you go, so

40:29

I guess it's my alter ego, but it is. But I

40:31

am. I am the kind too. It

40:35

depends dinner parties. I'm great at you know, when

40:37

you can sit and talk, you have your one to once. You

40:39

know, I don't have to

40:41

take the stage and be Susie Quatroll when

40:43

I'm out with a bunch of people. I don't like doing

40:45

that. In fact, I've been to a couple of

40:47

parties where they said sing and

40:49

I've said, no, you

40:51

and if I did me, didn't you me?

40:55

That annoys me. You know that they

40:57

expect you to sing for your supper. If I hones

41:00

sing, I will. You know, I don't need to

41:02

be asked. I'll say hey, and I'll do what I want

41:04

to do. But don't don't expect me to do

41:06

that otherwise, you know, I'm I'm

41:08

like a monkey, like a performing

41:10

monkey, and that's not who I am. Have a real

41:12

thing about going out with people, like after

41:15

a show, for dinner somewhere, if

41:17

there's friends and stuff, because it's just you

41:19

have to perform because he's still being Susie

41:22

Quatra. So I do separate the two. That's

41:24

why I have the ego room. And if

41:26

you read my autobiography, um

41:29

unzipped. It's written

41:31

in two people, Little

41:33

Susie from Detroit and Susie

41:36

Quatro, and all the

41:38

way through the book, both people have their

41:40

say and it's important. Okay.

41:48

A lot of rock stars do

41:51

it for acceptance. A lot of performers

41:53

do it for acceptance, looking for

41:55

the love that they didn't get, maybe

41:58

from their parents, or the accepted they

42:00

didn't get one. Was

42:02

that an issue too?

42:05

How are you internally? Are you still

42:07

looking for that acceptance? Are you comfortable

42:09

in your own skin? I'm

42:11

comfortable in my skin, but

42:14

I think that that that there

42:16

is a a

42:19

need in me. It's in my heart and soul. There's a need

42:21

in me to go out there and do

42:24

my show. I love doing it, you know, and

42:26

I many times I'm up there and I'm being very

42:28

honest with you. Um, I'll

42:30

be up there doing a show and I'll think,

42:33

I'll think to myself, and you're paying me for this.

42:35

I love entertaining. I love seeing

42:38

people come in maybe you know Saturday night crowd

42:40

like that, you know, and then the swinging from

42:42

the rafts. I love it. I love

42:44

what I do. I love having

42:46

a good conversation with somebody.

42:49

But I won't do small

42:51

talk, so be warned.

42:54

I don't I do not do small

42:56

talk. If we're going to converse,

42:59

we're both gonna remember it. And

43:01

that's how I treat my life. Okay,

43:04

you said you're very much as Detroit girl

43:06

to find that. Uh,

43:10

there's an edge, There's an energy, there's

43:14

an acceptance of all

43:16

the different things that Detroit has to offer. There's

43:18

an electric there's a danger element in Detroit.

43:21

I think just about and I've had this talk

43:24

with many other Detroit musicians. Um,

43:27

there's something in the air there. And and

43:29

if you look at a lot of the people,

43:31

a lot of the musicians to come out of Detroit, you'll

43:34

you will see a similarity. You got me, Alice

43:37

Cooper, Iggy Pop, MC

43:40

five, Bob Seeger, eminem

43:44

Kid Rock, White Stripes,

43:47

God am I forgetting any bocaby, a million people,

43:50

um, Ted Nugent Uh.

43:52

And then you got all your motown but all

43:54

the ones I just said, there's there's

43:58

something that fits there. You know, it's

44:00

an edge. Okay. You

44:03

know, as I say, this is an audio podcast,

44:05

but we're looking each other via zoom in

44:07

order to facilitate conversation and

44:09

as you move your hands, I notice you do

44:11

not wear a wedding ring. Do you

44:13

never wear a wedding ring? What's that about? Um?

44:17

I got into the habit of not wearing

44:20

rings at about the age of fourteen

44:24

when I had on a cheap ring and

44:26

I was slapping my bass and it broke

44:28

off and went into my finger. So,

44:31

because I played bass, I very often

44:33

don't wear rings at all. If I go

44:35

off for dinner, I might put it on, but it don't wear a wedding

44:37

ring. Now, I don't need to. I've never felt the need to wear

44:40

one. Now I feel the similar. Had a similar experience.

44:42

I went to a dude ranch with my parents

44:45

and we got a ring made out of like a

44:47

horseshoe nail. And of course when you're a little

44:49

kid, you're growing and I had such a hard

44:51

time getting it off. Never wore rings after

44:53

that. Yeah, it's scar does want

44:56

anything like that? Yeah? So, I mean it

44:58

actually went because it was a cheap one, it actually it into

45:00

my finger. I thought, I don't need this. So I can never

45:02

wear any jewelry when I play, And

45:04

so I guess maybe it's only when I'm going out

45:06

for dinner or something, and I have a lot of nice

45:08

jewelry. I'll put my jewelry on, you know. But now

45:10

I've never been a wedding leen wearer.

45:13

Now, okay, So you say

45:15

you grew up your father was a musician, you're

45:17

playing. To what degree did you take lessons

45:20

on any instrument? Um?

45:22

I started on bongo

45:24

drums at the age of seven, begged

45:27

my dad to get me a pair. I wanted to be a

45:30

hippie and a coffee house,

45:32

smoking cigarettes, playing bongos and reading my

45:35

poetry. Okay, Um

45:37

so I used to go with my dad at the age

45:39

of seven, round eight when I started to get quite

45:41

good, and let me sit in front of the trio. Then

45:44

I took classical piano for

45:46

eight years at least. Then yeah,

45:49

oh yeah, I read. I read and write and play classical

45:51

piano, and I also took

45:53

percussion. I was in the school orchestra,

45:56

first chair in the percussion section.

46:00

Uh so I'm trained in piano

46:03

and percussion, and then at fourteen self

46:05

taught on base. Okay.

46:09

So, for many peep Benny Boomers,

46:11

the line of demarcations the Beatles

46:14

by the same token. There was a lot of popular

46:16

music, as you mentioned Motown, etcetera happening

46:19

in Detroit. What

46:21

do you mean what turned on your lights? Obviously

46:24

you came from musical family, but

46:26

what were the records for

46:28

the type of music that all of a sudden you said, Man,

46:32

I just got to go in this direction. Yeah,

46:34

I got some pivotal moments that are very

46:36

important. Um,

46:39

five and a half, I

46:41

was watching the Ed Sullivan Show with

46:43

the family, like we all did, eight o'clock at night.

46:45

Everything stopped Sunday at Sullivan

46:48

and um, you know, he always would bring on something

46:51

for the youngsters at the end of the show. And

46:53

this particular night, Elvis

46:55

came on and he was doing

46:57

Don't Be Cruel. And my eldest

47:00

sister by nine years, she was survited age. She was

47:02

screaming, and I remember, like

47:04

it was yesterday. I looked at her and I thought, cent,

47:07

what's the matter with you? I was only a little girl.

47:10

And then I looked back at the TV and

47:12

I went into

47:14

the screen. I went into it

47:17

and lightbulb moment. I'm

47:19

gonna do that. Don't

47:22

ask me why, but it

47:25

happened that age.

47:27

Wow, And he stayed with me

47:29

my whole life. It's it's a it's a whole of this whole other

47:31

interview. There's like nine elvous

47:33

epiphanies that you can't write. And

47:36

then at fourteen, we

47:38

were watching at Sullivan again and

47:41

the Beatles came on, and

47:43

as soon as they were finished, we called

47:46

our two two friends, sisters and

47:48

another girl. Everybody's on the phone and

47:50

we were all oh eyeing over the Beatles, and

47:52

Patty said, my older sister, she said, hey,

47:55

why don't we have an all girl band? And everybody

47:57

said yeah, great, great, great, great great.

48:00

Everybody chose an instrument real quick. I

48:02

want rhythm, I want drums, I want piano, I

48:04

want lead, and I wait hello, and

48:06

Patty said to me, you'll play bass, okay?

48:12

And I did you

48:15

know? I find base unfathomable,

48:18

especially forget to stand up base,

48:20

but just in a regular guitar base. A

48:22

lot of legendary basses play without

48:24

frets. Uh,

48:27

how do you learn him? How do you do it? What

48:30

without fritz? No? Just base in

48:33

general? Oh god, I didn't even think

48:35

about it. Um.

48:37

When I was little, I used to put

48:39

a broomstick and

48:43

put rubber bands

48:45

like that, and betime I was doing

48:47

this. Um, My

48:49

dad gave me precision

48:54

to start with. That's like the Rolls Royce of bass guitars.

48:57

Um. I didn't know that

48:59

there were smaller bass guitarist. All I knew

49:01

was this is what he gave me to learn, so I

49:03

learned it. I didn't know it was a big bass, but

49:06

I sort of felt real comfortable

49:08

with it right away because don't forget, I'm a percussionist

49:12

and a pianist, and they're both percussion. Pianos

49:15

is classed as a percussive instrument, so

49:18

that's where my brain is anyway. Um,

49:20

And because I learned the

49:22

bass and became lead singer together,

49:27

it wasn't difficult because I was playing

49:29

a singing so everything off. I learned

49:31

this and I learned it just fit fitted

49:33

together like a jigsaw puzzle, and bass

49:36

became my favorite stage instrument.

49:39

Oh right away. I fell in love with it very

49:41

much suited me. Okay, so it's February,

49:44

the Beatles are on TV. You

49:46

get on the phone. What is the next

49:48

step with the group. Then

49:51

we decided we were gonna have the band.

49:53

Um, Like I said, I got my bass from my dad. NaN's

49:55

parents bought her a bass drum

49:58

and a snare drum in one symbol because

50:00

they weren't sure if she was serious. Patty got a

50:02

cheap guitar, Mary Lew got a cheap

50:04

guitar. Diane got a little funky little

50:06

world sir. And we started to

50:09

rehearse, and

50:11

we talked to my sister, talked to the owner

50:14

of the hideout, which was the local dance

50:16

all that everybody went in too, to let

50:18

us do a gig there in a month's time, a

50:21

month a month and we what

50:23

We only learned three songs and they were the same three

50:25

chords, so we played it safe and yeah,

50:28

we were up a month later. Wow, And that was

50:31

that was a real wake up call for me, you know,

50:33

to be up there and I really what wait wait wait

50:35

what were the three songs? Oh? Latin Blu

50:38

twist and shout and long talk text

50:41

And so

50:46

you get up and you play.

50:48

What's the reception? Like? It

50:50

was fantastic? And did you

50:52

sing longfall text in like the record?

50:55

Yeah? Well I'm alone tall

50:57

text in, I ride a bit?

51:00

Why or is he cons on texas sound a big

51:02

don't? But oh yeah, I did

51:04

it all. I was the lead singer, I

51:07

was in front, the whole front person. I didn of

51:10

the songs singing. So after

51:13

that great debut, what happened with the act? We

51:17

then started to play colleges

51:19

teen dances. Um, the

51:21

drummer went off to college. We went off to ann Arbor

51:24

every weekend to play the Friday T

51:27

G I F parties and all that. UM.

51:30

Then one

51:32

person dropped out. Then another person dropped

51:34

out in my elder sister Arlene, who

51:36

was married to three kids. She joined the

51:38

band and her

51:41

first husband out of seven

51:45

I love saying that he started

51:47

to manage the band, so

51:49

he left his job and

51:52

he had to support three kids on

51:54

what we earned. So we

51:57

worked and we started to

51:59

become a show band, UM

52:02

with costumes, playing all the clubs,

52:04

you know, doing five sets a night. That was

52:06

pretty normal, forty five on, fifteen off.

52:09

And we worked all the time. We worked more than the

52:11

guys did. And we went into club

52:13

land, you know, we were a show banding club

52:15

land. That's where I learned my craft.

52:18

How much money were you making? Well,

52:21

I remember being seventeen eighteen

52:23

and earning a thousand dollars

52:25

a week, which was pretty good back then. Oh

52:27

yeah, yeah yeah,

52:30

I mean he, like I said, he had to earn a living.

52:33

You know. So he got us good money and

52:35

we were an all go a band, so we were

52:37

different, we were unique and

52:39

it was easy to book us and we went coast

52:41

to coast NonStop. I was on the road

52:44

from fourteen until last

52:46

year because of the pandemic. Okay, so how

52:48

did you decide to drop out of high school? I

52:52

was in New York.

52:55

We were playing Trudi Heller's in Greenwich Village,

52:57

fantastic and see

53:00

end of the summer, it was time for me

53:03

to go back and

53:05

finish my school. And I was

53:07

sitting on the bed in my hotel and little

53:09

tiny single bed. I called home collect

53:11

of course, and uh, I

53:14

remember because my dad got on the phone and my mother got

53:17

on the extension and I said, Dad,

53:20

I think I found what I

53:22

want to do for the rest of my life and

53:26

I don't want to come back and finished school. And

53:29

there was a real silence, and

53:31

then he said, is

53:34

there anything I can say to change your mind?

53:37

And I said nope, And

53:39

he quietly put

53:42

the phone down. He

53:45

cut me off, but he didn't

53:47

do it mad. He just went click.

53:50

And how clever, How clever

53:52

because I had made this statement and

53:55

he didn't yell at me. It's almost like

53:57

click, you better think about that. And

53:59

I did. I said, on to bed for about maybe twenty

54:02

minutes or so, and I'm out. I'm

54:04

out of here. Never regretted it, not

54:06

for a second. Okay,

54:09

so this is in the heyday

54:11

of beans. People have no idea what it was

54:13

like. There was no internet. Everybody picked

54:15

up an instrument after the Beatles, there

54:18

were bands battle of the Beans everywhere.

54:20

So now you're a professional, what

54:23

is your life and career look like? And are

54:25

your dreams bigger than being in a show

54:28

band playing clubs? Um?

54:31

I loved the Pleasure

54:33

Seekers. It was a fun band, and

54:36

I was learning all the time. I was enjoying

54:38

the You know, my god, how I learned how

54:40

to use my throat without losing your five

54:42

shows a night. Um.

54:44

But I

54:46

didn't care about it being all girls. But I

54:49

don't do gender. Actually I never have. I've

54:51

never I've never thought of myself as

54:54

a female musician. That's why when

54:56

I looked at Elvis, I said, I'm gonna do that. Never thought about

54:58

it being a guy. I just don't do gender. Um.

55:00

I was a tomboy when I was growing up. But

55:05

I remember a pivot another pivotal

55:07

moment. We were setting up the equipment

55:09

because because sorry about that, setting

55:11

up the equipment because some we

55:14

didn't have a ROADI couldn't afford

55:16

one. And the lights

55:18

were growing up and all that, and we were carrying in all

55:20

of us, the Hammond Oregon, the Hammond organ

55:23

and my our

55:25

manager, my sister's husband. He said, now

55:28

you girls, you girls do realize

55:31

that all the lights have to go on, Susie,

55:34

I didn't say that. He said that.

55:36

I remember being quite uncomfortable

55:38

with that. Actually, you know, that

55:41

didn't come from my mouth. I was like, what

55:43

do you say? But I always kind

55:45

of knew that, Um

55:48

not kind of. I knew that

55:51

somebody one day was gonna tap me on the shoulder

55:53

and sec I just knew. I

55:55

knew it. I had a feeling. So I

55:58

was learning and enjoy being with everybody,

56:00

and then and then the call came. I

56:03

had dreams of every

56:06

I guess dreams of I don't like

56:09

the words startom.

56:11

I think it has negative connotations. I

56:13

wanted to be well known. I wanted everybody

56:16

to endure my music. I wanted to be

56:18

able to reach a lot of people. Um

56:21

yeah, I wanted

56:23

to be somebody.

56:26

Okay, what were you doing with all the money?

56:30

Oh that I was baking back then? Uh,

56:34

buying clothes, got

56:36

some guitars. God

56:39

it. It didn't last that long. That big money

56:41

didn't last that long because Leonder ain't got divorced.

56:44

So when he stopped managing us, we

56:46

didn't. We didn't end up doing quite as well. He was a good

56:48

manager. I have to say he did well. Um,

56:51

and we still lived at home. You know, I

56:55

can't say I got reaching either of those fans

56:57

pleasure seekers or cread or not really. Okay,

57:00

we live in the me too era. You're

57:03

a teenage girl working in

57:05

nightclubs across America?

57:08

What is that like? I'm sure you had

57:11

some experiences were not that comfortable

57:14

many times. Um.

57:17

I luckily what

57:20

I lack in stature I

57:22

make up for in mouth. So

57:26

I learned very young to put

57:30

somebody verbally in their place, and

57:32

I could do it very easy. Believe me, you

57:35

don't recover. Um.

57:37

Sure, there's been a few incidents, is yeah. One time.

57:39

I remember one time when guy was at

57:42

the front of the stage watching

57:44

the band, and he made this rude

57:47

tongue gesture you know what I mean, And

57:50

I took my base as it was part

57:52

of the show, and I whacked him over the head

57:54

with it, and

58:01

then I just had that little innocent look that I'm so great

58:03

at, you know. Oh sorry, Okay,

58:07

you paint a picture of

58:09

a rambunctious, spinning top

58:12

tom boy. Needless

58:14

to say, the young men

58:17

go on the road frequently with the

58:19

intention of having sex. Were

58:22

you sexually experienced? Was

58:24

this something that was off the table? How

58:27

did this fit in because on some level

58:29

you were selling sex to boot Yeah? Yeah,

58:31

sure. I had a boyfriend

58:33

of fourteen. We're still in contact now, really

58:36

good boyfriend. Uh.

58:38

Then I wasn't very experienced

58:40

at all. No, quite green. Actually

58:43

I talked to a good game, you know. I

58:45

then fell in love with a married man like

58:48

you do. You know he broke my heart. Yeah

58:51

I didn't. I didn't have that many boyfriends. I

58:55

didn't. No, we

58:57

were all quite square that

58:59

way. My mom and there were Catholic.

59:01

My mother was very strict, and that

59:04

actually gave me real good tracks to run

59:06

down. I wasn't one of these sex drugs

59:08

in rock and roll grow like it was just for the stage,

59:11

but offstage, quite quite square. My

59:13

chapman or he says that that I'm doing

59:15

quite square of stage. And I believe in if

59:17

you're in a relationship, you're in a relationship. I

59:19

believe in monogony. I believe in being.

59:23

If you're with one person, be with one person. Otherwise,

59:25

don't be with one person, you know. But I had fun,

59:27

I had enough fun. But I

59:29

certainly wasn't promiscuous by

59:32

any stretch of the imagination. That just

59:34

wasn't me. In fact, the joke amongst all

59:36

the male musicians in Detroit

59:38

was that you couldn't get near the quadrulls. That

59:42

it was quite funny. Uh no, not

59:44

not permissing. I'm quite square to

59:48

the question of drugs and alcohol. No,

59:51

In fact, I didn't even get drunk until I was

59:54

twenty two when

59:56

I met my ex husband

59:59

and he said me, you've never been drunk. Maybe I had

1:00:01

some beers back in the teenagers, but it wasn't

1:00:03

wasn't a drinker. Um. And I had

1:00:05

my first drunk with my

1:00:08

ex houseman and he took me out to her the

1:00:10

Greek restaurant. We had wine and

1:00:12

I was dancing on the tables. That's

1:00:17

funny. And what about drugs, the

1:00:20

normal pop stuff that you do in the in

1:00:23

the I was the sixties teenagers, so

1:00:25

the drinking parties were in fact pop parties,

1:00:27

you know. But unfortunately,

1:00:30

unfortunately, I'm one of

1:00:32

those people that

1:00:35

when I smoke dope it

1:00:37

makes me speedy, and

1:00:40

I'm speedy anyway.

1:00:42

And everybody's I remember going to I

1:00:44

never forget at a pivotal moment in my life again,

1:00:47

big pot party where at everybody's smoking. Everybody's

1:00:49

like like this, you know, laying around like you do,

1:00:51

nobody talking, and I'm going person

1:00:54

to person. Yeah, And

1:00:57

I heard somebody say to somebody

1:00:59

else, next time you come, don't

1:01:01

bring her oh

1:01:06

wounded. And

1:01:08

as the late seventies hit in in the

1:01:10

eighties, come on, it's a big cocaine

1:01:13

scene. Were you ever doing coke

1:01:15

or were you just a marijuana girl? I

1:01:19

didn't even hardy do dope once I saw what it

1:01:21

did to me. UM never

1:01:24

never not interested. UM.

1:01:27

I'm not one of these people that would ever

1:01:29

take a drink, even to this day. Although I like a

1:01:31

glass of wine, glass of champagne absolutely,

1:01:34

um, and I have a good collection and I'm

1:01:36

a snub with wines in champagne

1:01:38

like good stuff. UM. Never

1:01:40

have needed anything to go on to a stage,

1:01:43

and in fact, I don't like it when people

1:01:45

do need something. Cocaine just didn't

1:01:47

interest to me whatsoever. I've seen a lot

1:01:49

of people waste a lot of money

1:01:51

up there nose. You know, no,

1:01:53

thank you, not for me. Okay,

1:01:56

So you're in the Pleasure Seekers, you

1:01:58

ultimately make records. Then

1:02:00

the band morshed into cradle. You

1:02:03

know, that was a time where there was a clear

1:02:05

line between It's not like today where

1:02:07

anybody can make a record. There was a clear

1:02:09

line between the people who were happening on

1:02:11

the radio had deals and the bands

1:02:13

were playing in clubs. What

1:02:16

were your thoughts into what degree were you're optimistic?

1:02:19

Into what degree were you frustrated? Um?

1:02:23

Yeah, we got signed by Mercury. We made

1:02:25

a few sides, but that didn't work out. Because

1:02:28

this is the Pleasure Seekers. They didn't want

1:02:30

us to actually play our instruments on the record,

1:02:33

and we all didn't like that at all, so we left the company.

1:02:35

Um. Then there was an incident

1:02:38

where my brother booked

1:02:40

us on his one of his festivals

1:02:43

that he started to do, and uh,

1:02:46

we we're a custom

1:02:48

wearing show band, and

1:02:51

we went onto this hippie festival

1:02:55

and we died. We

1:02:59

died with our stage. We were

1:03:01

a show band and it was a bit of a

1:03:03

shock because we always did great at clubs.

1:03:05

You know, everybody loved us. So we

1:03:08

had a big discussion after that, and it was a

1:03:10

case of changing the band around, getting

1:03:13

heavy, writing our own material. I

1:03:15

would take a step back and mainly just play bass.

1:03:17

A little sister would come in and start singing, and

1:03:20

it became a serious jamming

1:03:22

band, long hair and ty

1:03:24

dyed T shirts and one of those. And I

1:03:28

didn't like that at all. We couldn't

1:03:30

get signed, and we didn't really have record success

1:03:32

in either band, not really um

1:03:34

and it was the cradle the band, the second

1:03:36

wave of the pleasure Seekers, where

1:03:38

the two record companies came and saw us

1:03:40

both in one week of each other. Electorate

1:03:43

Records came to Detroit, saw the band, didn't

1:03:46

like the band whatsoever, offered

1:03:48

me a solo contract, and that very same

1:03:50

week, Mickey Most came to Detroit, saw

1:03:53

the band didn't like the band whatsoever,

1:03:55

and offered me a solo contract. So yeah,

1:03:58

there was definitely a line between we're king unit

1:04:00

and recording. Yeah,

1:04:03

it was srd to get signed back then, but like I

1:04:05

said, I witness a solo with

1:04:07

Mickey Most and the rest is history.

1:04:09

You know, Okay, how depressed were you

1:04:12

when the band more than the Cradle and

1:04:14

you're no longer the lead singer. I

1:04:16

took it with a little bit of

1:04:19

philosophical attitude. I thought,

1:04:21

Okay, I could see the reasons she's

1:04:24

more in tune with that sort of happening things.

1:04:26

She's that age, and she video is a little bit heavier

1:04:28

and blah blah blah um.

1:04:31

And then I thought that it would be a great opportunity

1:04:33

to learn my base really well.

1:04:36

So I became really proficient on my bass

1:04:38

guitar. But the joy went out for

1:04:40

me. I have to say, I'm better as I'm a fun

1:04:42

person by nature. So I didn't

1:04:45

really enjoy my time in that band at all. And I

1:04:47

didn't like the root it took musically

1:04:50

how much heavier and we have to say something

1:04:52

politically and blah blah, No, no,

1:04:55

I don't want to do that, you know. So um,

1:04:58

Like I said, when the two offers came with an

1:05:00

week, it was to me a

1:05:02

no brainer that it was my time to move on. In

1:05:05

that interroom. Before you got those two offers,

1:05:08

do you ever think of giving up. No,

1:05:11

I'm gonna make it no matter what, no

1:05:13

matter what. Never

1:05:16

for an instant, even in London,

1:05:20

living in a room that was about as big as

1:05:22

this chair, with nobody,

1:05:26

you know, just my contract, and going to

1:05:28

the studio every day with my less Paul recording basement

1:05:30

way more than I did, crying myself

1:05:32

to sleep every night, very lonely. Never

1:05:35

did I consider giving up. I

1:05:38

was always going where I was going. In fact, I've

1:05:40

still got that exact same

1:05:43

fire in my belly that

1:05:45

I had then. It hasn't hasn't dissipated,

1:05:47

even even with all the success, It's

1:05:49

still not going. So I guess that's just

1:05:52

my nature. Okay,

1:05:55

when you're there and your brother

1:05:57

Mike brings Mickey

1:05:59

mo most to you, what

1:06:03

goes through your brain? Um?

1:06:08

After after Okay, I

1:06:11

just knew it. Mickey

1:06:13

was watching and Nancy was singing, and

1:06:16

I walked up and I did two songs. And

1:06:19

I remember it because I knew he was there, and I was a

1:06:21

big as a big fan of his production. I was

1:06:23

a huge Donovan fan, so I loved

1:06:25

Mickey's productions, loved him. Um

1:06:28

and I remember, I said, I

1:06:30

remember doing it. I went here's what

1:06:32

I wrote. It's called brain confusion.

1:06:36

And then after that I went going to a party

1:06:38

at the County and I knew exactly and

1:06:41

after the show, he just went like this to me. I

1:06:45

just had the feeling, you know, And he said

1:06:47

to me, how would you like to come to You gonna make a record?

1:06:49

But I thought he meant the band. He

1:06:52

didn't mean the band, and and that's

1:06:54

a It's in my documentary. It's

1:06:56

a well documented story. Um.

1:06:59

He flew Mickey to New York to

1:07:01

talk to him, and Mickey came

1:07:03

back with the news. But nobody told me

1:07:06

that he didn't want the band. He only wanted

1:07:08

me, And nobody told me that news. So

1:07:12

I could have missed my shot. But about

1:07:15

three or four months later, the band started to

1:07:17

disintegrate, and

1:07:19

I rode my bike to my eldest

1:07:21

sister at Need's house, who wasn't in the band anymore

1:07:23

for quite a while. She was on husband number two

1:07:25

then, and I was really upset. I said, what am

1:07:28

I gonna do? This band? The band is my

1:07:30

whole life. Music is what am I gonna

1:07:32

do? She said? Called Mickey, I

1:07:34

said, why why I've been sending

1:07:37

him stuff with the band and you know, and she

1:07:39

said he likes you. I said, well, what

1:07:41

do he means? She said, he just only

1:07:43

wanted you, Susie. And I went

1:07:47

what I had, no idea, no

1:07:50

idea. I could have missed my shot. That's

1:07:52

not right. They should have told me, um.

1:07:54

I mean, I know why they didn't. Obviously they will hope me. He's

1:07:56

going to take the whole band, of course. But I

1:07:59

called him did that that day

1:08:02

and he said, I understand because they didn't want to

1:08:04

break up the family band. You say he wanted it. He thought

1:08:06

it was out his last legs anyway, and

1:08:08

he said to me, uh oh, so the band

1:08:10

is going to be split and I said yeah. I said good,

1:08:12

you're ready to come over. I said, yep, done,

1:08:16

okay slowly you're

1:08:18

in Detroit. You literally called Mickey

1:08:20

most in England. Yeah,

1:08:23

okay. That was when the transatlantic phone

1:08:25

call was a really big deal. Second,

1:08:28

I know, and he took the call right away.

1:08:30

I just said, Sissor Quadro called Mickey

1:08:32

out, Hello, Susie Quadri. He always called me Susie

1:08:34

Quadra. Okay,

1:08:37

how long thereafter do

1:08:39

you end up in London? And

1:08:42

where there's any anxiety about

1:08:44

going to London, what your parents and peers

1:08:47

have to say. Well, I

1:08:50

had the two offers on the table. Electric

1:08:54

Records wanted to take me to New York and

1:08:56

put a mail band around me and

1:08:59

turned me into the next Janis Chapham, which

1:09:01

I didn't like it at all, And

1:09:03

Mickey Mo said, come to London, we'll

1:09:05

record an album who used the best musicians,

1:09:08

and I'll make you the first Susie Quadrum. So he

1:09:11

saw me, but I went to I had to think about

1:09:13

it, and I went to my parents bedroom

1:09:16

and my mom was sitting

1:09:18

on a chair and my dad was sitting on the bed and we were

1:09:20

talking, and I said, I've

1:09:22

had the two offers. Uh,

1:09:25

I'm going to take the English offer.

1:09:28

And then my mom started to cry because

1:09:30

it was going to be so far away. And my dad

1:09:33

said something to me that forever

1:09:36

pushed me. He said, you

1:09:40

do realize, of course, that your sisters won't

1:09:42

make it without you. Wow.

1:09:46

Talk about a heavy burden

1:09:49

to carry, you

1:09:51

know, I don't even I think it must have taken me maybe

1:09:54

ten years to even join my Hit Records. I

1:09:56

always felt bad, so he shouldn't

1:09:59

have put that mean, but he did. But at

1:10:01

the same time. He was giving me quite a

1:10:03

compliment, but

1:10:07

it really was a heavy load that I carried,

1:10:09

that really heavy. Okay, so what

1:10:11

exact year he moved to England. I

1:10:14

arrived October thirty one nine. Okay,

1:10:18

so you're twenty one years old. Did

1:10:21

they have an apartment for you? What is your

1:10:23

life look like now you're in England? They

1:10:26

put me in like a little hotel um

1:10:30

with a small room, a tiny

1:10:32

bed, no bathroom,

1:10:35

a mirror with a cracked a sink

1:10:37

with a cracked mirror, and a dirty

1:10:40

window. Not a nice room.

1:10:42

Not a nice room. And I had come from a beautiful

1:10:44

home and gross Point Whids, you know, cross Point Farms

1:10:46

actually at that point. Um

1:10:50

wow, I spent so much

1:10:52

a long time there then, Like I said,

1:10:54

I used to cry myself to sleep every night, but I

1:10:57

kept thinking to myself, this is

1:10:59

my pay, my due is part of my life and

1:11:01

I will make it. And I promised

1:11:03

myself I would not go back to Detroit

1:11:05

without hate records. Okay,

1:11:08

you talk about low moments during

1:11:10

that year. Generally

1:11:13

speaking, now you've got a lot of the whole life

1:11:15

look back upon. Do you have low

1:11:18

moments? Do you get depressed or

1:11:20

those times that never really happened to Susie

1:11:22

Quadro Oh gosh. I get

1:11:24

those all the time. But as

1:11:27

an artist, they're

1:11:29

my favorite moments because I create. You

1:11:33

know, I've got a poetry book. I've

1:11:35

got a lyric book. I've just got an Instagram

1:11:38

book. A year on lockdown, I'm writing songs

1:11:40

all the time. Whenever anything happens to

1:11:42

me, I let it. I'm the kind

1:11:44

of girl that walks through the fire I do.

1:11:46

I let it burn, and I come out of the other

1:11:48

side, and then I will either put it in a poem

1:11:51

or a song. I get lots of low moments,

1:11:54

but luckily I'm

1:11:57

I'm basically a glass

1:11:59

offtball person. Basically I am so the

1:12:02

low more and they don't stay long. I get them out. You

1:12:04

have to get them out. At one time, I was not you

1:12:06

know this book. I just put up called them through

1:12:09

my Thoughts Coffee table my third

1:12:11

in my series of coffee table books, and

1:12:13

it was on a

1:12:16

year long of lockdown, so it was like a year

1:12:18

in lockdown. I did Instagram and I made

1:12:20

it into a book with some narrative, just put

1:12:22

it out and one one

1:12:25

one that I wrote which every morning I

1:12:27

wake up, lockdown, can't see

1:12:29

my husband, he's in Germany, so really alone,

1:12:31

couldn't see my kids alone. And

1:12:34

I would wake up every morning religioucy from

1:12:36

March to March to one

1:12:39

figure out what my day is like, find

1:12:41

the right picture and the right uplifting message

1:12:44

or maybe not uplifting, however, I was feeling

1:12:46

with short message. One message,

1:12:48

I wrote, oh, you know, hello, good

1:12:50

morning, and this and them about it up um

1:12:53

and depression. Don't

1:12:55

come knock on itt my door. You're not getting in. That

1:12:59

was in the more. At midnight,

1:13:02

I hit the wall, and I

1:13:04

mean I hit the wall. I

1:13:07

couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stop

1:13:09

crying. So my next Instagram the next

1:13:11

day was smartass shut

1:13:13

up you know really, I

1:13:16

said, uh, I'm sharing this

1:13:18

with everybody because obviously

1:13:22

the depression was skirting around the edges

1:13:24

of my mind and I was I was be at

1:13:26

all ha ha. I said, it didn't even knock

1:13:28

on the door. It just came in, you

1:13:30

know. And it's okay to cry, It's okay

1:13:32

to hit that wall, which we all have

1:13:34

to do. You shouldn't stop it. I felt better

1:13:37

after crying, you know, but yeah,

1:13:39

I've hit the wall a lot of times during this, but

1:13:41

I bounced back. I just you

1:13:44

say your husband was in Germany.

1:13:47

Was that just during lockdown or do you spend

1:13:49

a lot of time a part normally. Well,

1:13:52

he lives in Germany and I live in England.

1:13:54

And for the past twenty

1:13:57

seven years that's worked beautifully

1:13:59

because here's ten minutes

1:14:02

from the airport in Hamburg, and I have ten minutes from

1:14:04

the airport here fifteen minutes and we

1:14:06

just and we were and he goes on the road with me, he

1:14:08

has done since he retired from his promoting.

1:14:11

He just looks after me. So we go on the road.

1:14:13

Um, you're coming here? Am I coming there? That's the

1:14:15

life we've had. Were either going

1:14:17

somewhere together or he's coming here and I'm going there. And

1:14:19

then all of a sudden, lockdown and that was over.

1:14:22

So all of a sudden, I am

1:14:25

alone and so we see and we had

1:14:27

only skype, only skype.

1:14:29

So every morning tears, you know, tears.

1:14:32

It's been really hard. And I can't

1:14:34

go over there with him full time, and he can't be here

1:14:36

full time because this is my

1:14:38

house and that's his. So everything

1:14:41

is the way we like it, you know, So

1:14:43

we've we've managed to make it

1:14:45

through. It's easing up a bit now. Five

1:14:48

months apart last year all together, and three

1:14:51

months so far this year. He's coming

1:14:53

over on Sunday

1:15:00

pre COVID. If there are

1:15:02

three hundred and sixty five nights in a year,

1:15:04

how many are you together? Um?

1:15:09

We usually are a part for maybe

1:15:13

together two and a

1:15:15

half weeks apart for two and a half to

1:15:17

two weeks. Two weeks and two weeks. It probably

1:15:19

averages out like that. And has it been that from day

1:15:21

one in the relationship yet? I didn't

1:15:24

think I would like that, you know. And

1:15:26

he was the one. He kept saying, oh, a lot

1:15:28

of a lot of professional couples lived this way, blah

1:15:31

blah blah. And now you

1:15:33

know, it's just like when I said, depression, you're not coming

1:15:35

in ha ha. He hates it, and

1:15:37

I'm fine, and

1:15:40

I'm fine. I'm actually

1:15:42

fine with it. So he's the one hating it now

1:15:44

and I'm the one that's saying it's fine. Okay,

1:15:48

So you're in this little hotel room.

1:15:50

What are you literally doing professionally?

1:15:53

For that next year? We

1:15:55

are recording Mickey

1:15:58

signed me as a singer song. We're writing a musician.

1:16:01

Um, so I'm writing all the time.

1:16:03

He got me a little studio to work in with the piano

1:16:06

and an amp and a bass, and I'm writing, and we're in the

1:16:08

studio with some big people, Um,

1:16:11

Peter Frampton playing on some of my stuff,

1:16:14

Big Jim Sullivan on guitar, Alan

1:16:17

White on the drums. From Yes. I mean, we had serious

1:16:19

people me on the base so making

1:16:22

stuff. Um, but it was

1:16:24

a very Mickey

1:16:26

would be the first rest in peace. Mickey.

1:16:29

He would be the first to say he never was quite

1:16:31

sure how to get

1:16:33

me on record. He knew

1:16:36

what he knew what I was, and he didn't know what

1:16:38

I was. He was always searching, and

1:16:40

you know, so we weren't making the right kind of records.

1:16:43

And finally, after about oh

1:16:45

a year, mab a year and a half,

1:16:47

I said, I've been advanced

1:16:50

since I've been fourteen, Mickey, you know that's

1:16:52

what I do. I said, I need to get

1:16:54

a band here and start working because I'm going crazy,

1:16:57

you know. He said, okay, So I auditioned

1:16:59

and I got a band. That was the turning point for

1:17:01

me. Um. He put us

1:17:03

on the circuit, on the college circuit, doing

1:17:06

all my own materials. So really, now

1:17:09

I'm developing. I got my band, you know, now

1:17:11

everything's making sense. And uh.

1:17:14

Then we went on the first

1:17:16

ever national

1:17:19

Slade tour and they

1:17:21

were having hits before I had mine. Mickey

1:17:23

called his friend Chase Chandler, who

1:17:26

used to be bass player for The Animals, and

1:17:29

he said, I got this girl. She's gonna be huge. Can

1:17:31

you put her on opening the show? He

1:17:33

said sure, So I had twenty minutes at

1:17:35

the beginning of every show, then then Lizzie

1:17:38

and then Slade and all my own

1:17:40

stuff. And by the time that tour was over,

1:17:42

I was in love with my guitar player. We wanted

1:17:45

to get married, and the band

1:17:47

had a sound, had a sound

1:17:49

we had developed. Obviously, you're playing every night,

1:17:52

you're gonna find your sound. And Mickey

1:17:54

then had just signed Chinn

1:17:56

and Chapman songwriters, and he

1:17:59

said to me, do your mind, because

1:18:01

I'm the songwriter. He said, do your mind if they come

1:18:03

along and see a show and

1:18:06

try to craft a

1:18:09

hit single out of your sound.

1:18:12

And I said, I don't mind whatsoever. The good

1:18:14

writers, you know, So they came and heard and if you hear

1:18:16

the first album, you'll hear all my stuff

1:18:18

is to do is very boogish,

1:18:20

you know. So they heard what we did, they

1:18:22

heard the set, and they went away WI can the Camp

1:18:25

And that was my first number

1:18:27

one. A little bit slower

1:18:29

he gets them, they see

1:18:31

you live. Tell us about the creation

1:18:33

of can the Camp. Uh,

1:18:37

Mike came in with this. If

1:18:41

you want, don't ever give Mike a guitar

1:18:44

because he's on eleven all the time

1:18:47

and he likes screeching, you know. But anyway,

1:18:49

he heard the sound, he came. But he came up with this demo

1:18:53

of just lots and lots of

1:18:55

noise and guitarist and him singing, and

1:18:58

he played it for us and we liked it, and we down

1:19:00

into the rehearsal room at the record company, all

1:19:02

of the all of us musicians, and we worked

1:19:05

on the arrangement of

1:19:07

this song. So the drummer came

1:19:09

up with to do. He came up with that

1:19:11

excellent um. Lenny

1:19:13

came up with his little choppy way of playing it, and

1:19:15

I came up with the nice boogie

1:19:18

base line. And we

1:19:20

had a great great keyboard player, Alistair.

1:19:22

Oh. He was so good. He's he's called

1:19:25

so many of them are dead. Anyway,

1:19:27

he came up with that, and it

1:19:30

all took shape very quickly. The band,

1:19:32

everybody put their stamp on it with their instrument,

1:19:35

and then Mike said to me, sing it here,

1:19:37

and I sang it, and he went sing it here. By saying

1:19:39

it, sing it here, I said, Mike, that's the top

1:19:41

of my range. He said, that's where it's gonna be. So

1:19:43

he took me right up. He said, something happens

1:19:46

to your voice up in that register. Took

1:19:48

me right up there. And when we were making it

1:19:50

in the studio, I put

1:19:52

the doom do, which really

1:19:54

became a real key factor. That was

1:19:56

Lenny's idea to doom with do

1:19:59

do do a medal base rift there. And then

1:20:01

when we were done, I've

1:20:03

done the vocal and everything, and Mike said I need something

1:20:05

just here, and I went right and

1:20:07

I went out. I did my famous I've been

1:20:09

doing it since I've been fourteen, my famous

1:20:12

scream. And it's a good one. It

1:20:14

really is. Makes the hairs on the back of here that

1:20:16

going. Max said, that's the magic. So

1:20:20

how long did it take to cut the record?

1:20:22

And how long after that was it released to

1:20:25

the marketplace? And

1:20:27

let me see, now we cut

1:20:29

it must have

1:20:31

been just after

1:20:34

the Slave, so it would have been around January, February,

1:20:37

March about March, and then, um,

1:20:41

that was all put

1:20:43

together. I was number one in May, so

1:20:46

we we just cut that one side first and

1:20:48

then I hit number one in May. I was twenty three,

1:20:50

had my first number one nearly three, and

1:20:54

then Mickey said, we need to make the

1:20:56

next single right away and the album. So

1:20:58

then we went and started to record the

1:21:01

album. So they came out after the

1:21:03

second hit single, after forty eight crash.

1:21:06

That was great, That was great. A couple

1:21:08

of things. Mike will say

1:21:11

that he wrote the songs and

1:21:13

Nikki was just a business guy.

1:21:15

You align with that, or you see Nikki

1:21:17

having an influence on the material. Um,

1:21:21

I mean, Mike's a very good friend of mine.

1:21:23

You know, we're still very close. And

1:21:26

he would say him he said many for many

1:21:28

years. At the beginning, probably says

1:21:31

for the first four

1:21:33

or five years that Nikki Chin

1:21:35

was very important. And because he used to edit, he'd

1:21:38

say what you got, Mike would play it, and he might change

1:21:40

a word here and there. He was maybe good at hearing a certain

1:21:43

word or whatever. But but in reality,

1:21:46

Mike was more the writer Nikki

1:21:49

did what he did whatever he did in private, and

1:21:51

Nikki was very good at business. And when

1:21:53

I did my big documentary, when I was

1:21:56

doing my radio shows, I did fifteen

1:21:58

years on BBC Radio two. Um,

1:22:02

everybody that they talked

1:22:04

to that got included in the interviews when

1:22:06

the documentary came out, they all said the

1:22:08

same thing. So Nikki would tell

1:22:10

it different, but that's how Mike tells it.

1:22:13

Okay, So you hear the

1:22:15

version finished version of Can That Cant

1:22:19

Do you immediately say, holy sh it, this

1:22:21

is hit record. He say, well, we made it. We'll see what

1:22:23

happens. No, you could

1:22:25

hear it. Um,

1:22:28

you got goose bumps. So

1:22:30

I had no doubt that was gonna Mickey heard it.

1:22:32

He said, this is number one. It's the number

1:22:34

one. Um. You

1:22:36

know when you hear a song like that, that's gonna

1:22:39

be here, you know it. You know

1:22:41

it. It had something had an excitement about

1:22:43

it. Um.

1:22:45

He called me into his office and

1:22:48

it was about a month before the record was due to come

1:22:50

out, and he said, we

1:22:54

have to talk about image now. He said,

1:22:56

you're gonna have a number one with this. We need your image.

1:22:59

What do you want to wear? Great

1:23:01

story of this. I said leather,

1:23:03

of course, Elvis and

1:23:06

he said no, no, no, no no. And

1:23:08

I said, Mickey, I want to wear leather. Said

1:23:10

no, it's it's old hat. It's been

1:23:13

done, and I said not by me.

1:23:16

And he went and he looked at me and

1:23:19

he said, how

1:23:21

about a jumpsuit? And

1:23:23

I said, yeah,

1:23:25

this is when I can be naive. I

1:23:28

said, yeah, great, And I'm

1:23:30

thinking to myself how sensible

1:23:33

that is, because I'm a real energetic

1:23:35

performer and everything will stay in place.

1:23:39

And I had no idea until

1:23:42

I got the pictures back that

1:23:44

it was sexy. And

1:23:46

that's why that photograph works, because it doesn't

1:23:49

look like I'm trying to be sexy. I didn't know I was being

1:23:51

sexy. But when the pictures came back

1:23:53

from being to choose, I looked at them and I went,

1:23:56

oh, oh, dear, oh

1:23:59

dear. If I don't it's

1:24:02

very funny. Don't see you don't

1:24:04

see yourself that way, you know. But there

1:24:06

was a pivotal moment again just before we just

1:24:08

I went just watching the time you just before we move

1:24:10

on. Um, when I was in the studio,

1:24:13

the photographic studio with a very big

1:24:15

photographer, gard make of its. He's done,

1:24:17

everybody, including the Stones, and

1:24:20

I was standing there in my brand new jumpsuit.

1:24:23

The boys were sort of lying

1:24:26

on this table around my feet. I was a leader

1:24:28

of the gang and my record

1:24:30

was playing in the background, and

1:24:33

my first ever proper photo session in my jumpsuit,

1:24:36

and I remember the photographers saying to

1:24:38

me, okay, now give

1:24:40

me that Susie Quatro look,

1:24:43

and I had one. The

1:24:46

funniest thing is I didn't know I

1:24:48

had one. I'm just gonna grab the box set so

1:24:50

I could show you the look and you'll see what I mean one

1:24:52

second, because

1:24:54

I'll never forget this as long as I live,

1:24:57

because I

1:25:00

you know, you're searching, searching, searching, and

1:25:03

then somebody says something like that to you,

1:25:05

and you you do it, and

1:25:08

then everything, all the pieces of my

1:25:10

my performing jigsaw puzzle, my personality,

1:25:13

it all came boom. I remember

1:25:15

this picture being taken. I hope believe

1:25:17

I'll remember the picture too. See

1:25:21

can you see what I mean? Absolutely,

1:25:23

it's a legendary picture. But okay,

1:25:27

you're instantly a sex symbol.

1:25:29

What's it like being inside the jumps

1:25:31

dude and everybody looking at you. To

1:25:35

me, it was it

1:25:37

was right. It felt good. Um,

1:25:41

when you when you don't grow up thinking

1:25:44

of yourself as a

1:25:47

good looking, sexy girl, even

1:25:50

wearing that and being looked at is not going

1:25:52

to change your inside, you know. And

1:25:55

I always say to my husband that,

1:25:57

thank goodness I

1:26:00

didn't grow up that way, because

1:26:02

what that did was that give me a very natural

1:26:05

balance to being stared at and

1:26:07

being a sex, very natural balance to it all.

1:26:09

Because I don't take it serious, you know.

1:26:12

I mean, they're loving Susie Quadro, and

1:26:14

so I do separate that way. I mean most

1:26:17

of the time. And it happens all the

1:26:19

time. The guys will come up and they go, oh,

1:26:21

oh no, I had you on my wall, your

1:26:24

poster, and you know that. I said, yes,

1:26:26

I know that, thank

1:26:29

you enough information. They want to share it

1:26:31

with you, you know. So I don't

1:26:33

take it serious. I just don't take it serious.

1:26:36

That's Susie Quadro. That's Susie Quatro.

1:26:39

Okay, okay, Now, performing

1:26:42

leather is not that easy. It gets hot

1:26:44

and sweaty. I mean, what was I'm like, Well,

1:26:47

you know, look at this idiot here, I'm five ft

1:26:49

two. I picked the heaviest

1:26:51

instrument and the hottest outfit. So

1:26:54

what am I like? I

1:26:56

could have played flute and satin. You

1:26:58

know, Um,

1:27:00

I just got used to it. I I when

1:27:04

I zipped that up, I

1:27:06

still wear it. I become me, become

1:27:08

her, become me. She is me, She's part

1:27:11

of me. But it's still performing side. I

1:27:13

love. I love the jumps It's what a great what a

1:27:15

great image. And I could still do

1:27:17

it now at seventy one. I mean, my god, how lucky

1:27:19

am I to have the same image. That's

1:27:22

fantastic. That means it worked because

1:27:25

Mickey's idea was a jumpsuit. Why did

1:27:27

you want to be in leather? From

1:27:29

Elvis? That's

1:27:31

another pivotal moment. I saw him

1:27:35

on the Comeback Special. I was

1:27:37

eighteen, and I decided leather

1:27:39

was for me, and I went

1:27:41

and bought my first leather jacket. Next

1:27:45

pivotal moment, we're making the first album

1:27:47

and we record I'll Shook Up. Next

1:27:50

pivotal moment, I'm

1:27:53

touring America with my English band. I've had

1:27:55

hits. I'll Shook Up is in the charts. Um,

1:27:59

I me in Memphis and the phone rings and

1:28:02

it's Elvis's people, and

1:28:05

all of a sudden he gets on the phone, I knewly

1:28:07

died, and he said, uh, I've

1:28:10

heard your version of All Struck Up and I think

1:28:12

it's the best. It's my own and

1:28:14

would you like and would you like to come to grace

1:28:16

Land? And I went, I'm

1:28:20

very busy right now, not

1:28:22

because I was scared, because I wasn't ready

1:28:25

and I figured i'd have another chance to meet him

1:28:27

and I didn't. Next pivotal moment, I have

1:28:29

to go through these now that I started. Nineteen

1:28:31

seventy seven, I

1:28:34

come from Japan to l A. I auditioned

1:28:36

for Happy Days. Um

1:28:40

they said okay. I met the director

1:28:43

at the funds, read for the part. They

1:28:45

said, go back to your hotel when we'll give you a call. We have

1:28:48

to discuss you. So I've

1:28:50

put on the TV. I'm sitting next to the phone

1:28:52

waiting for them to call. TV

1:28:54

is on in the background, and they called and they

1:28:56

said, we don't just want

1:28:58

you for the two part episode, want you for fifteen

1:29:01

episodes. I went great, And just as

1:29:03

they were saying that, the

1:29:05

TV said, news flash, the King is

1:29:08

dead right. You

1:29:10

can't write this stuff simultaneously. Then

1:29:15

two or three months later I'm there to do my

1:29:17

first taping of Happy Days and

1:29:20

the director comes

1:29:22

over with a little little man and

1:29:24

he said, Susie, I'd like you to meet this guy.

1:29:27

His name is Nudy and he's gonna be doing

1:29:29

all your costumes for the show. That

1:29:32

was Elvis's personal Taylor,

1:29:35

you cannot write this kind of stuff. Okay,

1:29:38

then it's not coming out to the end

1:29:40

of it. Now, I'm

1:29:42

doing my tribute song to Elvis et and google

1:29:44

it when we're done, called Singing with Angels

1:29:47

Um. It was done in Nashville

1:29:49

with James Burton on guitar and the Jordanaires.

1:29:52

Gordon Stoker had come out of his hotel bed

1:29:55

to sing on this song. I wrote

1:29:57

it about Elvis, so that

1:29:59

that is the final, the final one, so I finally

1:30:01

beat used a thing with him, and the

1:30:04

compliment that I shall take to my grave is

1:30:07

I was outside with James Burton, took

1:30:11

a little break from recording, and I gave him

1:30:13

my headphones and I was playing him a few

1:30:15

tracks from the album I was recording and

1:30:17

he's listening and he took off. He said, you

1:30:19

know, Susy, I gotta tell you something. I said what he

1:30:22

said? You got what over said, and I went even

1:30:26

when I said, now, my heart stops. I said, what

1:30:30

what do you mean? He said, I can only

1:30:32

explain it this way. Whatever

1:30:34

you do, it's you. Wow.

1:30:41

Wow, Let's go back to can

1:30:43

the Can it's number one. It

1:30:45

is very hard to follow up

1:30:47

a hit. Was it all moving so

1:30:50

fast you didn't think about it? Or were you

1:30:52

anxious? How am I going to follow this up? I

1:30:55

had no doubt I would follow it up. I

1:30:58

was on a roll. My time

1:31:00

had come. I was ready.

1:31:03

Okay, Like with everybody,

1:31:06

the role eventually comes to an end.

1:31:08

How did you deal with that?

1:31:12

How did I just say say it again? You

1:31:14

know, eventually everybody

1:31:16

on the chart their day

1:31:18

and somebody else takes

1:31:20

the throne emotionally? How

1:31:22

did you deal with it? Deal with that? Um?

1:31:26

I never felt like I went anywhere. I've always

1:31:28

just been a working

1:31:30

artist. I

1:31:33

never went anywhere, So I I never

1:31:35

had that syndrome. Um,

1:31:37

what for me? Once you make it to a

1:31:40

certain level and you're out there and you

1:31:42

know you're playing for the crowds, and you're doing tours

1:31:44

and you're all the time working, and whether

1:31:46

you're having hits in the charts doesn't really make any

1:31:48

difference because you've made your

1:31:51

name, and then you're a working artist,

1:31:53

and you're you're doing the circuit, the festivals

1:31:55

and the private gigs and this and that. So

1:31:58

I've just always rolled along. I've never felt

1:32:02

left out because

1:32:04

even in the eighties, I I keept, I kept

1:32:06

changing tracks. You

1:32:09

know, UM did did the acting,

1:32:11

I did musical. Okay, wait wait, wait, before we get

1:32:13

to the changing, how did

1:32:15

you feel being a Detroit girl that,

1:32:17

prior to stumbling in none

1:32:20

of these gigantic records in England

1:32:22

crossed over in America. Now, wasn't

1:32:24

only you the other it's very

1:32:26

successful acts to talking about Slade,

1:32:29

etcetera. But how did you being

1:32:31

an American? How did you feel about? There was

1:32:33

something? There was a couple

1:32:35

of year period of a lot of stuff happening everywhere

1:32:37

else. Knew it wasn't happening in America. I

1:32:40

used to go tour there um

1:32:42

all the time. We saw quite a few albums, you know,

1:32:44

but the hit records didn't translate.

1:32:46

And every time I went over, I always

1:32:49

noticed that it was Linda

1:32:51

von Stadt and the Eagles all

1:32:53

over the radio. Um in my documentary

1:32:56

has explained very well by Mike Chapman

1:32:58

by Debbie Harry by all these people. I was

1:33:00

a little bit early. You know, they

1:33:02

weren't quite ready for

1:33:05

this bass playing leader of a

1:33:07

rock band to

1:33:10

to do it. You know that I had more of a

1:33:12

cult status in America, and it wasn't

1:33:14

until I did Happy Days. In fact, this is my

1:33:16

own take on it, and they saw this

1:33:18

bass playing girl that

1:33:21

all of a sudden it became okay,

1:33:25

that's how I see it happening. So they didn't

1:33:27

discover me as Susan Quasta. They discovered

1:33:29

me as Leather Tuscadero being played

1:33:31

by Susan Quadrow in America

1:33:34

at that point in time. Happy Days

1:33:36

in Laverne and Shirley, which were done by the same

1:33:38

people, were the number one in two

1:33:40

shows they juggled. What's it

1:33:43

like being on a number one television

1:33:45

show which has international reach even

1:33:48

beyond the records. Yeah, fantastic.

1:33:51

Um. I was very

1:33:53

It was a decision I took to

1:33:55

to even try out for that part, you know, but I

1:33:57

always I knew I could act, so I wanted to do it. One

1:34:00

of the nicest three three three

1:34:03

years of my life. I've kept good friends

1:34:05

with Henry, good friends with Ron. We

1:34:07

email all the time. Um.

1:34:10

In fact, I one

1:34:12

time Astron recently we were talking.

1:34:15

I was curious, I said, did

1:34:17

I ever feel when I joined the show

1:34:20

like I was a brand new person on

1:34:22

the show, a new actress? He said

1:34:25

no, he said, you were

1:34:27

just in the show. It was like you

1:34:29

had been there from the beginning. I can't figure

1:34:31

out how that happened. It was a really natural fit for

1:34:33

me, you know, pretty natural. And I

1:34:35

love I love acting. It's my second love

1:34:37

if I have one. Okay,

1:34:41

do you say, both

1:34:43

in words and in the documentary

1:34:45

that you could have continued. Do

1:34:48

you regret that you did not continue

1:34:51

being on the show and having your own

1:34:53

spin off? No. I.

1:34:59

I spent a lot of time with Henry,

1:35:01

and he was always talking

1:35:04

about how he was always going

1:35:06

to be the Funds, you know, and he's

1:35:08

a fine actor. And that went

1:35:10

into my little brain a bit. And then I thought, well,

1:35:13

I'm Sushi Quatro everywhere in the world.

1:35:15

I now Susi Quatro playing leather tuscadero.

1:35:18

So do I really want to box

1:35:21

myself into being that person for the rest

1:35:23

of my life? And the answer was no, I

1:35:25

did not want to. And I went on to

1:35:27

do a lot of other different kinds of shows, you know, And

1:35:30

I did musicals and you know, Midsummer

1:35:32

Murders and ab Fab and five

1:35:34

or six different series that I did. And I

1:35:37

made the right decision at the right time. I did enough

1:35:40

of Leather Tuscadero. I didn't need

1:35:42

to keep doing it. Okay,

1:35:46

not long after that, you have children?

1:35:48

Did you always want to have children?

1:35:52

And did Why did you decide to

1:35:54

have them at that point and what was the experience?

1:35:56

Like, I always wanted to

1:35:58

have kids. I come from big family myself.

1:36:01

That was a no brainer. Who was going to have

1:36:03

kids I wanted for Unfortunately,

1:36:06

I'm too small and I had two cesareans.

1:36:08

They were kind of dangerous. I wasn't allowed to get pregnant

1:36:11

again. I wanted to have them before thirty.

1:36:14

Then I found that I had trouble

1:36:16

getting pregnant, low fertility, and

1:36:18

I had to have a little bit of help, and I

1:36:20

finally got pregnant at thirty two and thirty four. Always

1:36:23

going to have kids, but I

1:36:25

insisted that the

1:36:27

kids come on the road

1:36:30

with me. That was one of my things

1:36:32

I said to my ex. We argued about it. I

1:36:34

said, I don't have kids and leave them at home.

1:36:37

So we had to live in nanny and we took

1:36:39

them on the road until they got to proper school

1:36:41

age. Um,

1:36:44

yeah, kids is great, Kids

1:36:47

is great. They they changed your life. You

1:36:49

you you have no idea what

1:36:52

love is until you have a child. Wow.

1:36:56

Did I just say that many

1:36:59

perfooms. Uh,

1:37:04

I have guilt that they did not spend

1:37:06

as much time with their children growing

1:37:09

up as maybe someone with traditional

1:37:11

job. Is that enter

1:37:14

the picture at all with you? No, it

1:37:17

doesn't because I

1:37:19

had arguments about it, and I insisted,

1:37:21

and they came on the road, so

1:37:23

I would get my sleep from the gig before on

1:37:26

the road, and then they would come to

1:37:28

spend the afternoon together. You know, I

1:37:31

tried to make up for when I was home, I'm

1:37:34

not on the road. I was boring. I

1:37:37

never went anywhere. I

1:37:39

stayed here in this house with the kids,

1:37:42

so they were with me on the road, and when we

1:37:44

were home, I was here. My ex used to get quiet,

1:37:46

annoyed. Why don't we ever go? I said, no, I'm

1:37:48

here. So no,

1:37:51

I didn't leave them when they went to school

1:37:53

age, and then you couldn't keep taking them out. Then there

1:37:55

was a few tourists maybe where I

1:37:57

had to do a couple of weeks in Australian then they would

1:38:00

lie out in their break that that happened

1:38:02

sometimes. But I never deserted

1:38:04

my kids. No, I was. I was a hands on mom

1:38:07

and that was not easy because

1:38:09

I was also the bread earner, so

1:38:11

I had to wear eight million different hats. You

1:38:13

know, now, a lot of children

1:38:15

of famous people, celebrities,

1:38:18

Uh, their childhoods are

1:38:21

not easy. They end up drugs, alcohol,

1:38:23

bad actors. How do you work out with your kids? They're

1:38:28

they're pretty normal to um

1:38:31

No, they haven't got they haven't got any problems, any

1:38:33

addiction problems. My daughter

1:38:35

can drink, she's half Scottish. Um

1:38:38

No, No, they're fine, They're

1:38:41

well adjusted. My son has had two successful

1:38:43

albums with me. He's producing people

1:38:46

now. He's a fine guitar player. My

1:38:48

daughter has a good job, she's a good singer.

1:38:50

She's got her my granddaughter,

1:38:52

and she's got a foster kid. Now

1:38:55

that you know, I made sure that my kids were

1:38:58

as normal as possible. I

1:39:00

didn't raise them as show showbiz breadths

1:39:02

at all. Okay. In the

1:39:05

documentary, a huge

1:39:07

turning point is when you take

1:39:09

the gig in any get your

1:39:11

gun, let's kind of separate some

1:39:13

of these things out. Hey, how

1:39:15

did you make the decision to

1:39:18

do that gig? And in the documentary

1:39:22

that says it closed a for a huge riff

1:39:24

with your first husband. What was going on all

1:39:26

through that? Um?

1:39:28

Okay, I had my kids. I

1:39:31

was branching out into different bits and pieces. You know,

1:39:33

you can't go on the on stage when you're pregnant

1:39:35

because that's not good for the baby. So I had two years

1:39:37

where I wasn't on the road,

1:39:39

not all the like when I got bigger. When

1:39:41

I got bigger three or four months, I was fine.

1:39:44

Um,

1:39:46

I'd wanted to And an offer

1:39:48

came up. I was offered

1:39:51

the role of Annie and Annie Gets

1:39:53

Your Gun and we had to tour boat in

1:39:55

Australia. And I remember

1:39:58

saying to Lenny, this

1:40:01

is an offer or we had we had

1:40:03

an offer of a tour. It wasn't booked, obviously,

1:40:06

I said, I will not turn this down. I always

1:40:08

wanted to try my hand at musicals. I love musicals.

1:40:11

And Annie Gets your Gun. Wow,

1:40:14

what a perfect fit for me, sharp

1:40:16

shooting girl. You know a tom Boy?

1:40:18

What a perfect fit. Um.

1:40:21

I slid into it. Again. It wasn't difficult.

1:40:24

Um. I took to it like a duck to water. Love

1:40:27

the songs, love the whole process

1:40:29

of doing a musical, loved the discipline

1:40:31

of it. Absolutely loved it.

1:40:34

Um yeah wow. But

1:40:38

my husband, and you know, he had to sit

1:40:40

around during happy Days. Didn't like that. And he

1:40:42

had to sit around during Annie. He's a guitar

1:40:44

player. So that started to cause

1:40:47

a little bit of a rift. If

1:40:49

you had not taken those two

1:40:51

gigs and you'd worked in the

1:40:53

band with the marriage, have worked

1:40:55

and continued, or was it going to end in

1:40:57

any event? I think it

1:41:00

was going to end in any event because I think I

1:41:04

think he kind of

1:41:06

drifted after the kids. I don't

1:41:08

I don't even know if he wanted kids. You know,

1:41:10

it was we were we were growing

1:41:13

up heart, you know, And I love him dearly still I say

1:41:15

it to my husband. I'll always love him. Not in

1:41:17

love anymore, but always will love him. Um.

1:41:21

We stopped communicating. That's

1:41:25

the killer. So how did you tell him?

1:41:28

I wrote a song called Free

1:41:31

the Butterfly, and

1:41:34

I brought it down and played it from

1:41:37

beautiful song. You should google it,

1:41:40

and I thought he would get it, but he didn't. All he said

1:41:42

afterwards was nice song, sues it's

1:41:44

about the ending of her marriage. Um.

1:41:47

Yeah, finally, it took me six years from

1:41:50

from the time I knew that we were, not

1:41:53

that I was falling out of love. It took me six years

1:41:55

to go because I had kids and I'm a Catholic

1:41:57

girl, so he had he had to really think,

1:42:00

get through and make sure one million

1:42:02

percent that you were making the right decision.

1:42:05

And then finally I knew. And when I knew, I

1:42:07

knew, and I just said, that's it, that's

1:42:09

it. How long was that after

1:42:11

you played him the song? Probably

1:42:17

two years? Okay,

1:42:19

So you're working in and get

1:42:21

your gun. All of a sudden

1:42:23

you start spreading your horizons.

1:42:25

You're writing books, you're acting,

1:42:28

you have a radio show. How does that all come

1:42:30

about? And is that fit in

1:42:32

with your philosophy? Is it new? Because is

1:42:35

it exciting because it's new? Where

1:42:37

do you say, well, I'm a rock chick, should I be doing

1:42:39

that? What's going on? I

1:42:41

don't think about any of those things. Um, I'm

1:42:44

quite comfortable as this, very

1:42:47

comfortable. This is who I always will be.

1:42:49

The suit stuff fits, by the way, But I

1:42:53

am an artist. I gotta start

1:42:55

five everybody. You're telling me the same jumpsuits

1:42:58

you wore in the seventies. You can no,

1:43:00

no, no, no, no, no, no no, no no no.

1:43:02

Okay, for a minute, there you're no

1:43:05

no no, no no no. Of course not, of course

1:43:07

not. I would have to be you have to be a miracle

1:43:09

for that. But I do have older

1:43:11

ones, you know, newer ones, and they fit. But of

1:43:13

course they made for me. Now, of course you're not the same size,

1:43:16

Um, not exactly anyway. But I'm still pretty good.

1:43:18

Let's let's put it this way. They still look good,

1:43:21

okay. Um. I'm

1:43:23

an artist and I can't help with be an

1:43:25

artist, and I am

1:43:27

a communicator

1:43:29

and entertainer and

1:43:33

a creator, and that's

1:43:35

what makes me tick. So

1:43:38

I have to do those things I have. I love

1:43:40

doing radio. It's communicating on the air.

1:43:43

I love writing, it's communicating through my words.

1:43:45

I love writing songs. It's it's

1:43:47

all about that for me. I have to create.

1:43:49

I I can't exist

1:43:52

without creating. Okay.

1:43:55

There's a cliche in the music business. It's

1:43:58

not about the money. It's about

1:44:00

the money, okay.

1:44:02

So let's go back nicky

1:44:04

most And in that era, traditionally,

1:44:07

the acts had to cough up there

1:44:10

publishing and they had lousy

1:44:12

record deals. What was your experience

1:44:15

in the seventies. It was notorious

1:44:18

after the sixties when record companies

1:44:20

were throwing money at everybody. The seventies

1:44:22

thing got very tight. So I had a normal

1:44:25

seventy deal, seventies deal

1:44:27

which I be negotiated when we negotiating

1:44:30

came up. Um, I never got cheated by Mackey

1:44:32

was very fair with me, ironed,

1:44:34

ironed, pretty good. You know. I bought my first house

1:44:38

with cash, so not bad.

1:44:41

But make Mickey put me with a good accountants and everything,

1:44:43

and he was straight with me, and yeah,

1:44:46

I'm fine. I don't have to worry about money.

1:44:48

Okay. Needless to say, the songs

1:44:51

that uh uh

1:44:53

Mike Chapman wrote, the singles you don't collect

1:44:56

on, but all of these other songs

1:45:00

you just get the writer's share in the rack

1:45:02

days or do you have any of the publishing?

1:45:05

Um I was signed with my publishing to Mickey,

1:45:08

so yeah, I get publishing. Sure, I have published

1:45:12

cents on the dollar. The old deal

1:45:14

is the publisher owns

1:45:17

the publishing and gets and

1:45:19

the writer gets. We

1:45:22

that we had that, we had that fifty

1:45:24

fifty. But now I've

1:45:26

now got seventy thirty because

1:45:28

they do all the administration for me. I have Butterfly

1:45:30

Stroke Rack Publishing, and they do the administration

1:45:33

for and I get it.

1:45:36

And who is they?

1:45:41

Let's assume you never worked again. You

1:45:44

have enough money to get to the end more

1:45:47

than any now in style. In

1:45:50

style, I can drink a nice bottle of champagne

1:45:52

every night of the week. Okay,