Kris sits down with the one and only Suzi Quatro to discuss her new documentary, Suzi Q.
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Kris is honored to welcome her guest, the First Lady of Rock n Roll herself, Suzi Quatro. From Detroit Rock City and around the globe, Suzi has sold more than 50 million albums and inspired countless female rockers. But being a pioneer wasn't without its hardship. Loneliness, sexism and strained familial relations all weighed on Suzi as she rose to the top. Now a new documentary illustrates how one woman's passion allowed her to persevere in the ultimate Boys Club and forge a path forevermore for female musicians everywhere.
Watch the SUZI Q now on Apple TV.
We love to hear from you and yes, we take requests! Please subscribe, rate, comment, then tell a friend!
Special thanks to Sisi Cronin at Sicily Publicity, Teddie Dahlin at New Haven Publishing, Tait Brady at The Acme Film Company, and my very special guest Suzi Quatro for her time and music in association with this podcast.
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About the Podcast:
‘TEXT PROSE AND ROCK N ROLL’- is the only podcast dedicated to the written account of musicians. From artist memoirs to band bios, and anything in between. You'll hear first accounts from those who lived the lifestyle; a Book Club that rocks - literally.
It was Created, Hosted & Executive Produced by Kris Kosach.
It was Produced & Edited by Charlene Goto of Go-To Productions.
For more on the show, visit the website.
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UNEDITED FROM ORIGINAL INTERVIEW:
TPR - Suzi Quatro - MIC MIX (33 Min) - RAW
[00:00:00] Suzi Quatro: [00:00:00] Yeah. You'll see. Okay.
Kris Kosach: [00:00:05] No worries. Leave it up to us. It's the whole new world. Isn't it? Wow. Since you started, I mean, now concert promotions, kind of the way to go. Everything's digital. Do it yourself. Blah, blah, blah. It's it's weird. Okay. For sure. Okay. Is CC going to join us or should we just go for it?
Suzi Quatro: [00:00:24] We go, we go. She's just awesome.
We're fun.
Kris Kosach: [00:00:28] All right. Sweet. Well, first of all, it's really nice to meet you. Um, I am going to do my very, very best not to ask you the same questions that you've been asked 20 million
Suzi Quatro: [00:00:39] times today.
Kris Kosach: [00:00:49] Okay. Um, all right. So I, I write an intro to this, so we're just going to go for it. No intro needed. I'll do that later. Alright. Um, You are born in Detroit rock city to [00:01:00] a musician family with a name like Suzi, Quatro. You were destined to be a rock star. You do know that, right.
Suzi Quatro: [00:01:05] It's amazing that that name is such a first question.
Lots of people ask me, including my husband. What's your real name? That's my real name. No, it's just a good name. Isn't it? It's just
Kris Kosach: [00:01:18] solid name.
Suzi Quatro: [00:01:19] Yeah. So how lucky was that? How lucky was it?
Kris Kosach: [00:01:23] Oh, well, I don't know if it was luck. I think it was fate. I really do. I really seriously. So, all right. So they say that children are who they're going to be at the round, the age of five, and you just learn more stuff after that.
So at the age of, at the age of five, you were watching television and something came on the screen that changed your life forever. What was it?
Suzi Quatro: [00:01:48] Uh, we were watching the ed Sullivan show. It was actually six. Um, I think five going on six anyway, uh, and Sullivan was the family variety shown all the families would sit down and watch it [00:02:00] together.
And at the end of the show at Sullivan would always say, I always remember him doing it and now, or something for the youngsters. And he would bring out something for the youngsters and Elvis Presley came out. Okay. So my, one of my sister's nine years older, the oldest, one of the family, she was 15. She was screaming at the TV set.
And there's me looking at her. I'm a little girl. I'm going, why are you screaming? And then I turned into the camera, there's Elvis. And I'm going. Yeah. And in, in, in
first thought like a light bulb, I thought I'm going to do that. It's amazing that age I'm going to
Kris Kosach: [00:02:44] do
Suzi Quatro: [00:02:44] that. And it never occurred to me. He was a guy and I was a girl was the light bulb moment to me, my whole life. So I discovered myself very, very young follow. I
Kris Kosach: [00:02:57] just love that.
Suzi Quatro: [00:02:59] It's a true [00:03:00] story. I can't believe it happened.
It's crazy.
Kris Kosach: [00:03:02] Yeah, he wasn't in his leather period, right? There's not, I'm not connecting the dots between that.
Suzi Quatro: [00:03:07] No, no, but that, that is when he's, uh, when I was 18 and I've been four years in a band at that point, um, you know, looking for the image, looking for what you do, always rock. And, uh, I saw his comeback special.
I was on the road. I can't remember where it was and I saw him and he had leather on. And another light bulb moment. I went, Whoa. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to wear leather. I liked that. It was me. So I went out and bought a leather jacket the next day. So there you go. That's so
Kris Kosach: [00:03:36] cool. The band, the band you're talking about is the pleasure seekers.
Is that right?
Suzi Quatro: [00:03:41] Okay.
Kris Kosach: [00:03:43] So you and your sisters hit the road. Your brother is a promoter. He gets you on some great bills with slate and then Lizzie, but there, there was one bill with Amboy, Dukes, and, uh, and I think it was Slade and
Suzi Quatro: [00:03:58] not slate slate were [00:04:00] in England. And they hadn't, they weren't in America at all.
My brother, Mickey, Michael Quatro was a promoter and he booked us off of his festivals, but not the pleasure seekers cradle, the next wave, the next band we had, we got heavy and. Started to write our own songs and everything and all into it. When we went or area, I didn't like it, but yes, he used to book some festivals.
Correct?
Kris Kosach: [00:04:23] Yeah. Well, a thank you. That was the question I was going to ask you. Stay in the doc that in Susie Q the documentary, uh, that we're talking about, that you didn't really like that bad. Why?
Suzi Quatro: [00:04:34] Uh, the pleasure seekers were fun. I sang 95% of the songs. I was the front person. Um, give me one second. Sorry.
I'm doing zoom. I'll call you right back. Okay. Um, I did tell him about, of course he's German and he doesn't listen. So, [00:05:00] uh,
so. I enjoyed that entertainment value of that band. I thought it was fun. It was a good way to learn your craft. We did five shows a night, you know, we played all the time. Then we went on a festival that my brother put us on and we were so outdated because we had been playing clubs and all of a sudden they hit me thing and we weren't part of that.
We were on the road. So we kind of lost touch with that. Generation and we kind of died and then we decided to change the band. Well, I didn't decide everybody decided, and I was put back a bit mainly just playing bass. I did maybe six songs and I, and my little sister was brought in because she could sing.
The whole family was talented and, uh, she had more her finger on the pulse of that era of music. So we had a change. Um, [00:06:00] but it wasn't to my liking. I, I got really good on my bass, which is a good thing, but I am not a, a musician in a band. I'm a fun person. When that was taken away from me. I didn't, I didn't complain about it because I figured everything happens for a reason and use it to learn and jam.
And I did solos is all pounded. That was very valuable. Um, but I didn't like the direction the music took at all. It went very heavy and very, um, contemplating or Naval type of thing. Wasn't me. I'm just more, I'm more of an entertainer. It became a Jew that's it became more of a jamming band.
Kris Kosach: [00:06:42] Right, right.
Suzi Quatro: [00:06:44] But it was,
Kris Kosach: [00:06:45] it was definitely a necessary evil though, because then a Mickey comes to town, Mickey most comes to town to work with Jeff back at Motown and he comes to see you. Right. Tell us about that.
Suzi Quatro: [00:06:57] You know, incredible. Um, so [00:07:00] in all honesty, my, my front person life was being hidden under a barrel because the band had changed, but that didn't stop.
Mickey most from seeing the band, I did two songs and he said, you here, so whatever whatever's gonna happen to you is going to happen to you. You know what I'm saying? There was such a thing as destiny. There's such a thing as following your path. That was my path. I didn't know it, but the week before making most had seen me.
We had got seen by electro records and the president Jack Holtzman. He offered me a solo contract too, but nobody told me about that or about Mickey. He wanted to take me to New York and make me into the next Janis Joplin. I didn't hear about this till later, uh, and Makey most wanted to take me to England and make me into the first Suzi Quatro.
Kris Kosach: [00:07:57] So. Yeah, nobody [00:08:00] wanted the band. Oh, that's interesting to me, but that's, that's a common story, you know, that happens.
Suzi Quatro: [00:08:05] That's not an unusual one. Often you get somebody kicked out that happens, you know, it's nothing to, it's nothing to brag about and it's nothing to feel bad about. It, it just is what it is.
It's, it's your, it's your, it's your life taking on the path that's supposed to take and you following it. That's how I see it. Whatever that may be. You know, if I, if I, if I was supposed to drop out of the band at some stage, I would have done if I was supposed to not be the lead singer. That, yeah. It's just all a matter of believing in yourself and following the road, there's the road sign, you know, I'm sure you feel the same people do.
Kris Kosach: [00:08:42] I absolutely do so. All right. So yeah, but there was no road when you started, that's the point you made it, you made the road.
Suzi Quatro: [00:08:49] I didn't have a blueprint. That's the reason I wanted this documentary to be made was to show people that I did not have a blueprint. I [00:09:00] had nobody I could point to and say, I'd like to be like her, her, her, it didn't exist.
So I had to have. A lot of self belief, not ego. A lot of self-belief be sure of who I was stick to it. Let nobody change it and just let that light shine. I had to believe me. There was a chance that I wouldn't make it. Who, who knows you don't know anything, you know, all you can do is stay true to yourself.
And if the message, if the movie has a message, it is stay true to yourself. Cause it's all you have.
Kris Kosach: [00:09:33] Alright. So you were, you were in this very heavy by the way. Um,
Suzi Quatro: [00:09:37] you do, by the way, I'm saying that to you. Cause I can see it on your face.
Kris Kosach: [00:09:43] Well, thank you. Thank you. I'm going to, I'm going to have some ownership this time. I've worked for the man. Way, way, way too long. It's time that I step out at the age of 52.
So I'm a little old, but I know 14, but screw that here I come. Um, Anyway, you were an inspiration [00:10:00] to me and, and, and of course, like so many Americans now I'm hopping all over my page, but I gotta jump to the happy day stuff. And then I want to go back to England. Okay. Because for so many little girls, including myself, that was the first time we saw you and take charge.
We didn't know. I didn't know you were this worldwide phenomenon. Uh, I didn't order rock, uh, rolling stone magazine at the time. Right? But happy days you played leather tescadero and you got that gig because you were on the cover of the rolling stone.
Suzi Quatro: [00:10:33] So,
Kris Kosach: [00:10:34] which is great. So tell me about the day that you got the phone call from the producers.
Suzi Quatro: [00:10:41] Uh, we were on tour in Japan. And by the way, before I say that I don't care how you came to my table. You came to my table. So welcome. Um, I was in Japan, on tour and my publicist called me and said that they were considering me for this series. I didn't know the series. [00:11:00] Um, he said it's worth it. Got on the plane, went over there.
Met the director met the producer, uh, read, read the script for them a little bit. I was taken outside to meet Henry. Um, and then they said, go back to your room and cause we had a hotel room and we will discuss you and we'll call you. Right. This is, this is so funny. Cause Elvis has sat on my shoulder, my entire career.
So I'm in the hotel room waiting for the phone to remain the TV's on in the background. It rings, I picked it up and they said, congratulations, we don't just want you for the two parter. We want you for 15 episodes. I said, great. And right at that moment simultaneously, I'm happy here. The TV says.
Newsflash, the King is dead. Oh, you can't, you can't write this stuff.
[00:12:00] Kris Kosach: [00:12:00] That's August, 1977,
Suzi Quatro: [00:12:03] the phone call and the TV. It's amazing. I get goosebumps when I said then when I came back, I think September, just to film. Go to the studio. And they said, Oh, Susie, come here. We want you to meet somebody. And they said, this is Nudie.
He's going to make all your clothes for the series. He's Elvis, his personal Taylor. Okay. How was this? Really? Yeah. Great. And to finish off the Elvis connections, he used to go at the top Rodney bitten and Hybris disco, and he used to watch. Uh, videos of me and listened to my music. And he used to look at this poster of me, nothing sexual.
I think he found me interesting. His last girlfriend told me this. And, um, I wrote a song for him called singer with angels. You must listen to it. It's become a cult hit. It was done with James Burton, who's guitar player and the original Jordanaires. So [00:13:00] it's all about him. And if I had ever met him, The song wouldn't exist.
So it's important. I wrote the song. That was my last, I think who knows? Yeah, go
Kris Kosach: [00:13:13] ahead. There's there's thank you. Sorry. Um, there's there's trivia out there that he wanted to work with you, but you said no. Is that correct?
Suzi Quatro: [00:13:21] You wanted to meet me? I was in, um, Memphis, 1974 and all shook up. My version had just gone into the sort of, I think number 41 or something, just gone into the lower end of the charts.
And, uh, I got a phone call in my hotel room and it was his people. And before I could even catch my breath, he got on the phone and he said, uh, I've just heard your version of all shook up. And I think it's the best since my own. And would you like to come to Graceland and meet me? And I went. I'm very busy.
[00:14:00] Kris Kosach: [00:14:01] Don't meet your idols,
Suzi Quatro: [00:14:05] your idol. I just put the big J for jerk, but the truth is the truth is I wasn't quite ready. Was he scared to meet him. Wasn't quite ready to only have a few kids. And I just kind of wanted to just be a little bit more equal when I met him. So I felt a little bit more, you know, kudos and I didn't know he was going to die early, but if I had met him, that song wouldn't exist and that song.
Needs to exist. Believe me, it's important. You have to Google it when you're done with me, have a listen to it. And I wrote that for him and I wouldn't have written it at all. And you get, like I said, Elvis impersonators record that song. Now his play that funerals. And he definitely inspired me. Wow.
Kris Kosach: [00:14:50] Yeah.
Well, it's very, it's very clear that he did you you're. You're amazing. Um, okay, so let's go back to Elvis and the look and the PR your persona on stage, [00:15:00] um, when you were in England. You were lonely at the time you were all alone. You start working with Mike Chapman. He starts writing heavier baselines for you to shine.
Right. But your persona,
Suzi Quatro: [00:15:13] you didn't write, they didn't write nobody ever voted baseline for me in my life. I have to put that right. Oh, sorry. No, that's fine. Um, he allowed me to play my bass the way I wanted to do it. I mean, he allowed me to be up front with it. You know, that's what he meant. I mean, the early stuff that Mickey most did with me, I mean, I'm a good bass player and it was in there, but Mickey didn't have it shoved up so high in the mix.
When Mike made the records of me, he took what I was doing and mixed it high up in the records. That's what he's saying. He, he let me play. Like I play, I always played the same. Nobody ever tells me what to play to this day. Um, In fact, you can only suggest. And even that I want to say, but
Kris Kosach: [00:15:59] Hey, at least [00:16:00] you're honest.
Suzi Quatro: [00:16:01] I'm sorry. Roll. Now what he did was he, he pushed it up front, so there's good bass playing that I was doing that made me Mickey was keeping down. He put it right in the front of the record and I even took the solo Brits on canvas. Can you know? So yeah, he let me, he let me fly with my bass. He didn't tell me what to play, but he let me fly, which was a smart thing.
So
Kris Kosach: [00:16:22] smart because that makes your musicality upfront, takes away a little bit of the, the pretty girl there, but it just gives you more street cred as a bass player.
Suzi Quatro: [00:16:33] That's what I am
Kris Kosach: [00:16:35] exactly, exactly. But unfortunately, as you know, and, um, As, as you know, the looks and the image are so important, so important in this day and age to an artist's success.
Um, you talk in the documentary, Susie Q about, uh, the day that you did that photo shoot in your black leather. And they said, give us a look and she came alive. Can you tell that [00:17:00] story please?
Suzi Quatro: [00:17:01] It was honestly one of the pivotal moments of my life. Um, I had, I had, uh, we had made cam the cam and biggie thought it was going to make you most thought it was going to be another one he said, or you got a big hit here.
So let's discuss, I remember it sitting in the autistic, discuss your image. Cause now was the time I had the record had the band now is the time for me to break. So I said, okay, leather. I remember it. He said, no. I said, yes. He said, no. I said, Mickey, I want to wear leather. And I remember him saying. It's been done.
I said, not by me. So he said, he looked at me for a minute and then he said, how about a jumpsuit? And I honestly honestly made the roof cave in on me. I had no idea, no idea it was going to be sexy. Wasn't even in my head. I said, great. Um, I [00:18:00] thought, cause I I'm a very. You know, energetic performer, everything will stay in place and I can do whatever.
I like nothing to ire, nothing to zip up. Wonderful zip that's all. And, um, then we were at the photo, shoot our records playing on the speakers and I always remembered records play. So there's my, my record, my record with my band play. I've got my first jumpsuit on the band of draped on the floor around me.
So I'm in charge. And I'm like, it's surreal, it's surreal. And the photographer, he says to me, give me that Suzi, Quatro look. And I remember doing that, that I kind of got on the post of that look, all of a sudden, all of a sudden everything made sense. Give me that Susie quad for look. Okay, here it is. I guess it's all the years leading up to that, you know, and, and you're, and I was sensitive enough to know that this was my moment [00:19:00] and everything fit together, like a jigsaw puzzle.
So the Susie soul from the pleasure seekers, entertainer, the bass player from cradle, you know, and then those 18 months of loneliness and then cam Macau, the jumpsuit, the base, the band, right. Come up with your, and your base off at 11.
Kris Kosach: [00:19:22] Yeah. And you did at 11, um, on top of the pops you play that, it's just another gig.
I mean, it's a great gig, but many non-famous people played top of the pops, but when you played it the next day you went, as they say in, in, in your Homeland now, um, you went down the pub for a drink. What happened.
Suzi Quatro: [00:19:45] I was just excited. And I said to, to my, to my ex husband who was still good friends, I said, let's have a drink.
And we walked into the pub and everybody started screaming. It was so I kind of looked behind me to see who else had [00:20:00] walked in. I thought somebody famous didn't realize it was me. And we had to leave because it was, it was, it was mobbing. It was mobbing. They were all rushing him. And that was it. That was actually the change of life.
Change
Kris Kosach: [00:20:15] about Heights. Yeah, so, all right. So fast forward. So happy days happens. You, um, you are a superstar, 55 million records worldwide. You are a mentor to so many people that are famous today. Uh, just some of the people that are in the documentary. Chrissy hind, Lita Ford, Sheree Curry. Who adores you? Uh, they all do.
Debbie Harry KT. Tunstall Wendy James, Tina Weymouth, and Joan Jett above all says that you were integral to her. What was it like the first time you met Joan?
Suzi Quatro: [00:20:53] Um, that was. My first impression was how cute she was just cute. And [00:21:00] I thought it was sweet because she was in my hotel waiting for me after the show, waiting for me with
Kris Kosach: [00:21:05] total fan girl, right?
Suzi Quatro: [00:21:07] Yeah. With lots of stuff. I just thought it was cute that she was sitting there with my haircut and my jacket, and I thought, Oh, you know, and that she, she continued to do that. And then I found out that she formed a band and I said to my publicist, she told me, I said, Hallelujah. He said, what do you mean? I said she needed to do that.
She had to find an outlet because it was, it was like too much, you know? And she went on to have great success. So I was, I was happy that she made it into something, not just a fan that made it into something for her. And everybody starts somewhere, you know, look at me with Elvis, you know, I was her touchstone and she obviously looked at me and thought to herself, I have that in me.
And she did because she proved
Kris Kosach: [00:21:52] it. Yeah, absolutely. Of course the band she started was the runaways with
[00:22:00] Suzi Quatro: [00:22:00] and you know, it's all good. It's always leader. She's a lovely girl.
Kris Kosach: [00:22:04] Yeah. I don't think a lot of people realize that her entire look, even me to some degree, it was like leveled up a little bit. Her entire look, not just the haircut, not just everything
Suzi Quatro: [00:22:19] in the film. And like I said, everybody starts somewhere. How many people watched Elvis and took stuff? Because any good performer, to be honest, to be fair. And he could perform, we're watching somebody that they, they go on, they love that person. If they're a performer themselves, if they're going to be a performer, they will find little bits that resonate that they can maybe take and put through in their way.
But she, she has a lot of me, not now she's gone her own group now and I've gotten mine, but the beginnings quadruple that spoke to her one zillion percent, that's who she wanted to be. Right.
Kris Kosach: [00:22:58] Of course. Yeah, of course [00:23:00] she did her own thing, so she's gone her own way, but, um, that's, that's amazing. So
Suzi Quatro: [00:23:06] that was your starting point.
That's all.
Kris Kosach: [00:23:09] Yeah. Uh, tell me about the beginning of this documentary. How did it come to fruition?
Suzi Quatro: [00:23:16] The, a guy called me. And I, I it's on my bucket list, always has been wanted to do a documentary. And, um, so we were talking on the phone and he said, I just want to tell you straight away before we go any further that I'm not a fan, which made me that I went over the,
Kris Kosach: [00:23:35] okay,
Suzi Quatro: [00:23:36] that's an icebreaker.
So, um, he said, no, no, don't get me wrong. You said, I liked your music. I'm just not a fan. I went fine. Fine. That's not a problem. I said, then just tell me then why do you want to do this film? And he said, because I saw you talking on a television show and you fascinated me. So I thought, [00:24:00] okay, this is the kind of guy I want to do my film.
I don't want somebody to kiss my ass. I want somebody who will be objective. I want somebody who argue with me and this was the right guy. And the only, the only thing that I insisted on it, I stuck to it religiously. I did have editing scissors and I said, I said, I'll tell you now I don't want wonderful.
She's wonderful. I said, I just don't want that kind of documentary. I want it to be open. I want it to be raw. I want it to be emotional. I want people to laugh, applaud to cry. I want it all. I want my story to be told, I want the record straight. And I said, even if there are cringe moments where I wish I could crawl out of the theater, if they're real, they're in.
And you'll notice in that documentary, everything stayed in because I wanted the truth and there were moments I wanted to crawl out, but the, what I call the cringe moments. They're the best parts in the [00:25:00] film. And this is when you get to know me and the struggle I had and what I had to fight both emotionally and business wise, you know, it was not an easy road.
I didn't have somebody I could point to and say, I want to be like that. It didn't exist. So I was on my own. I was by own all the time.
Kris Kosach: [00:25:21] Uh, Alice Cooper says here in your documentary, Susie Q, that you just couldn't take the Detroit out of her. You got grit lady, you got grit. So, um, I appreciate very much that, uh, that you were so honest and humbling and left things in that your sister said, and for listeners, they should definitely listen and watch the documentary to see for themselves to what you kind of went through.
Some of that's pretty. Pretty harsh, but rock, rock and roll gets ugly though, too. There's loneliness. Let's get to the heart of the matter with the sexism and the [00:26:00] chauvinism because good God lady, you had your fair share of that. How did you deal with that?
Suzi Quatro: [00:26:08] I have a no nonsense approach. Um, I'll say it this way.
I am a tone boy. What I'm also cute with it. Okay. I can tell a dirty joke. I can be bothered with the guys ever doing a bubble, but I keep my feminine card in my back pocket. I keep my balls in my head. Okay. They won't get kicked there and I keep my feminine card in my back pocket. And if somebody steps out of line out comes the card, I hardly ever have to use it.
I know you're talking about one part. Where I got slapped on the rear by, uh, a but, and I've explained this at my Q and A's. That was a real moment. Um, I had just wandered over the year [00:27:00] and he waited til we got on the stage and it was a live television show. So I'm on a live TV show. I'm being interviewed.
It was a big show and it went through my brain very quickly. We needed that. Do I do something? Do I let it pass. So I went the professional mode and I just let it pass. If he had done that backstage, it would have been on the floor.
Kris Kosach: [00:27:25] All right. That's, that's good for a lot of little girls to hear that though, too.
But yeah, but you, you class app, you just, you played it right. You played it straight. You, you know, you played along, um, have you found, you've had to play along in the music industry once in a while. Not just that, but like the press wanted to scare you.
Suzi Quatro: [00:27:46] I am told by everybody who knows me. I'm not, I am not diplomatic in that way.
I'm not a bullshit artist. Um, if you ask me something, I'll tell you what I think I've been [00:28:00] told by many don't go to business meetings because I don't like to play the game. Why. Do I have to waste my time playing a game. If I want to say this, I want to say, why don't you just say what you think and I'll say it cuts out the middleman.
Let's just be straight. I think he must've got that from the film. I'm a straight talker. I have a strict
Kris Kosach: [00:28:21] Henry Winkler says there's very little bull in you. Um, so for sure, are you guys still tight at the people that are in this documentary? Are you like in constant contact with these folks?
Suzi Quatro: [00:28:33] I'm still tight with everybody.
Henry's was one of my favorite comments in the, in the film. Um, and Debbie and Sharita did my song, but Debbie, I'll tell you a little secret. Um, I mean, can I swear on this.
Kris Kosach: [00:28:48] Yes, go for it. Be yourself. Feel that grit be a combined
Suzi Quatro: [00:28:54] w when I first was watching the cut of the documentary and [00:29:00] Debbie comes, Debbie, Harry comes on, she says, I'm left.
Forget it. She says, Susie Porter was so beautiful. I asked the director if I could add something to that, just my voice. I wanted to go fuck off to me.
I can't hear Debbie, Harry, tell me I'm beautiful. I can't hear that. And I won't hear, and I, and he said, no, you can't put that would have been for anybody.
Kris Kosach: [00:29:32] That's okay. It could be the director's cut. Right?
Suzi Quatro: [00:29:34] I think, I mean, it would make me in Africa, but Oh, you know, she was one of the iconic beauties, but I cracked up laughing. I never grew up with. Looks in my arsenal. If that makes sense,
Kris Kosach: [00:29:52] you didn't play it up. You've got it. You just don't play. It says that you don't play it up, which works in your favor,
[00:30:00] Suzi Quatro: [00:30:00] I guess.
I mean, I didn't even, when's the first time, even though I looked okay, God knows. Maybe in my late twenties. But even, so I think I'm not comfortable even talking about it. Um, you know, I'm not really a makeup girl. I wear it sometimes when you smoke stool. But, uh, I I'd rather that you appreciate my brain.
Appreciate my bass playing ability. Like my voice, appreciate my artistry. And leave the people who play the looks card to them. I don't want to do that. Never have,
Kris Kosach: [00:30:34] you know, you know, in many ways I'm going to opine here for a sec, if that's okay. Um, in many ways you were in the right era for sure. In the seventies, because I was a VJ at MTV and.
The the, in the eighties and the nineties, it was all about the look, all about the look. And there's so many amazing musicians who just didn't make it because they couldn't make it on MTV. And [00:31:00] I faced for radio. You hear that all the time I came from radio I'm I'm OK. But, um, but. With MTV in the eighties and the nineties.
And even now it is really all about the looks. So the fact that your music spoke for itself might help too. But, but again, you can't get a pass with Denita said that you are sexy as hell you are, and you have to know that.
Suzi Quatro: [00:31:25] Um, I you're embarrassing. Um, I think, sorry. It's okay. I think the sexiness comes from something inside.
I don't, I I've never purposely gone out there and tried to be sexy. I just move on and move. I feel hard for you. And it just kind of all follow suit sometimes when I'm watching myself. Um, you know, I'll critique my own stuff. I think I didn't like that, or I didn't like that. Like everybody does. I'm sure you listen to your shows and think, Oh, I could have done that better path.
Kris Kosach: [00:31:57] Um,
Suzi Quatro: [00:31:59] but you can, you [00:32:00] can look at it in third person almost and appreciate it. I can see what people see when they say that to me. But, um, I, I am my own believers. I'm sexy because I'm not trying to be sexy. Right. I'm just not, you're competent.
Kris Kosach: [00:32:16] You will can see that your conscious
Suzi Quatro: [00:32:17] is confident. Yes. I believe in my craft and it's not ego.
It's a confidence. It's a self belief. And I say this and it's my personal mantra. And now you got me being serious. Um, I said it when I got my, um, Honorary doctor of music at Cambridge university. I didn't even graduate high school and I am dr. . Could you believe that? I can't believe it, but I went up there and I had my speech on the side and me being me, I just flung it.
I thought I'm just going to talk. I looked at all the hats and the gowns and all these intellectuals are great. And I found myself speaking and then I was in tears. I said, All right. Our job in life, all of our jobs that life [00:33:00] doesn't matter. If you're male, female, black, white, rich, poor. If you're a janitor or if you're a husband, doesn't matter our job, we each have a little light go in, find it, switch it on.
And that.