A biography for Richard Ashcrofthasn’t been written yet.
“I'd definitely say I'm a depressive, someone who suffers from depression.”
“It doesn't matter how fashion or politics changes; you'll never change a classic song.”
“I don't want to be responsible for messing up someone. I don't want to be responsible for that, because the things that happened in The Verve, it was heavy stuff. It was real. It wasn't just frivolous nonsense, you know what I mean? There was real people's lives.”
“Hearing 'This Is How It Feels' on the radio was an amazing feeling, like starting again. But I believe that, in the end, my name will be bigger then the Verve because of all those great tunes and the power of what I stand for.”
“We all have our daily prescription of yoga, football, religion, or whatever gets us through that day. My thing is music. It's the only thing that gives me a sense of calm and balance. It's the thing I know I'm good at.”
“I've got a talent, and people enjoy my songs, people love my songs; why stop?”
“The mad thing is, most of my life, when I'm not in a dark mood, it's been humour that's got me through. The only way to get through this business is by laughing.”
“A classic song is timeless. You'll never outlive a classic song. I'll never put The Beatles 'In My Life' on one day and say, 'That doesnt move me any more.'”
“If I was a painter, I would have hundreds of finished and unfinished canvases in my studio waiting for people to see, and it is the same with my music. I've got so many pieces of music and songs waiting to be heard.”
“When I read about Gram Parsons' dream of this Cosmic American Music when I was in my late teens, that stuck with me: that idea, that ambition, to draw off the roots of music but take it somewhere fresh.”
“I'm totally up for experimental music. I'm up for music that they don't play on the radio, and I take in all of it. But my thing, the thing that comes most natural to me, is making the stuff that has a melody; it has a soul to it, yet it's head music.”
“I don't ever want to get to the point where I don't think about death! You've got to swim in it, learn from it - embrace it!”
“The Richard Ashcroft of 1992 would have struggled to imagine the path my life has taken - he would be amazed at the changes in my song writing.”
“People do get out of my way when I'm walking to the shops.”
“The greatest footballers take the sport into the world of art, of performance.”
“I strongly disagree that you can't have a happy family life and a child as well as rock n' roll.”
“Technology means the kind of music you can make on your own if you've got an imagination is amazing. It's crazy that I can sit with a Mac and a keyboard and a mic and create a symphony.”
“There's lots of people I'd love to work with.”
“I probably suffered from a narcissistic disorder in some way.”
“George Best was my idol. I got a chance to meet him once.”