Shakin' Stevens
I don't like to do interviews, to be honest. I hate interviews.
I don't wear white shoes any more.
I still love being on the road. I've been doing it since I left school. It's in my blood, it's in my bones.
I had a positive remark from Johnny Rotten, would you believe? He said I was a fantastic singer. Not a lot of people know stuff like that.
I did feel a bit of an outsider in the Eighties. But there was a market for me out there. New Romantics were totally different.
I came out of the punk era in the late Seventies. There were the Stray Cats, Matchbox and myself. I was able to hang on and it makes you think how I fitted in with your Spandau Ballets and Kraftwerk.
To write a song is one thing, to get it to No.1 is another and to have a respected artist cover it is incredible. It's great to know my songs will be around for a long time.
The early Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets gigs were wild.
I've jumped off pianos, I stopped climbing up curtains when the screws popped once and I fell to the floor like a Looney Tunes cartoon character, and ended up off for six months because of a broken ankle.
War affects people in different ways.
My grandfather, born in 1865, was a copper miner from the age of 10. The air down the mines was poisoned with arsenic, and working conditions were horrific. They only had candles for light, so they worked in a pitch-black environment.
I love the Wilburys, but what made them special was the make-up of the band.
I was a 17-year overnight success really. I think I earned it.
There's nothing wrong with being mad.
I feel like I'm a skittle. If I'm knocked down, I'll get up and try again.
It's nice to be part of Christmas.
Merry Christmas Everyone' went from 38 to 10, then 2, and then it hit the top spot, by which time the rereleased Band Aid single was at No 3.
You used to have those Saturday morning television shows. You had to do your bit. You had to go on and promote your new release. I quite enjoyed it, actually. You had the parents watching them, and they must have liked what they were seeing, so they'd encourage their kids. And then they'd end up bringing them to the shows.
Hot Dog' had been my first hit in the U.K., but it was 'Marie Marie' that really changed things.
Call me Shaky, not Michael. I've been Shaky for so long it would be like calling Muddy Waters McKinley, wouldn't it?
My second hit was a flop.Collection: Funny