Shakin' Stevens

“To this day, I don't know how our mum managed to put enough food on the table.”

“I feel like I'm a skittle. If I'm knocked down, I'll get up and try again.”

“I'm not a spendthrift. It's hard enough to earn!”

“I always used to sing in the house and I went to school at Hywel Dda Primary School in Ely. I think they had a puppet-type show there and word got around I could sing. I sang at that puppet performance and used to sing in school. From there, it was in my blood. I didn't want to do anything else but sing.”

“I don't wear white shoes any more.”

“Call me Shaky, not Michael. I've been Shaky for so long it would be like calling Muddy Waters McKinley, wouldn't it?”

“From country rock to Cajun, classic rock to Latin, and blues to Americana, I've had the pleasure of re-discovering the 'jewels' from my repertoire that are so well-liked.”

“People have got a preconceived idea of what I look like, what I perform and what my shows are all about. I can understand that, because all they can refer to is 'Top Of The Pops.' But those who come to my shows know better.”

“All families have lies and secrets, I don't mind sharing ours.”

“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.”

“I've met an 18-month-old baby whose dad says the child likes banging his toy hammer on the furniture when my songs are playing and I've met grandmothers who've bought all my discs.”

“We had three small bedrooms. There were five boys in the back, top and tail, the girls in the front. Me and Leslie, the two youngest, were in with our parents. I was very happy but when they all got married and moved out Leslie and I thought we were kings.”

“My fans go right across the board. They come to my concerts in family groups.”

“I have done big festivals all over Europe with hip hops acts and everything else.”

“With the Echoes tour there was quite a lot of people who came to the shows that were attracted by the music and the sentiment on the album.”

“As for Glastonbury, it's the biggest festival there is in Britain, and I'm very pleased to be asked to do it.”

“I've been using slide guitar, banjo, stuff like that for yonks. But if people haven't seen me live on stage, they wouldn't have heard me with these instruments.”

“Mum was absolutely tremendous, a wonderful woman, one in a million.”

“I'm so tired of all that teeny-bop stuff. It was years ago. So twee. I'm not into all that.”

“When I was growing up, there were 13 children - it was different times then.”