A biography for Shakin' Stevenshasn’t been written yet.
“I never dressed like a teddy boy, and I don't like shaving but you've got to do it.”
“I don't like to do interviews, to be honest. I hate interviews.”
“Look at Kylie. She's changed and adapted but still kept her fans. That's what I want to do.”
“When I started we were travelling in vans, at that time we couldn't afford B&Bs, so after the gig the band would all climb in the back of the van with our fish and chips and then wake up in the morning - six sweaty musicians, all the gear around us, and you'd think 'oh god.'”
“Life is never a bed of roses, but it's not all doom and gloom either.”
“The early Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets gigs were wild.”
“In the Eighties, I was everywhere. It was hard, because you didn't see much of your children. I missed out on that. People make sacrifices - doctors, long-distance lorry drivers - and that was mine. I wasn't left money, I had to go out and earn it.”
“Mickey Gee will be remembered for his guitar playing by the public and true fellow musicians.”
“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.”
“I was a 17-year overnight success really. I think I earned it.”
“I used to go to Caerphilly with my brother Les, two years older than me, with my mother to see her sister, Gladys. When they wanted to talk we'd have to leave the room. She'd say to her husband Stan 'take them in the front room and play the piano.'”
“It's nice to be part of Christmas.”
“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.”
“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.”
“As you get older, you do try to be a bit wiser.”
“I've been asked that question lots of time before, why wasn't I on Live Aid? And quite frankly I don't know. I was riding high in the charts and the styles of music they had were quite varied from Adam Ant to Status Quo to Queen. I would have definitely fitted in.”
“There's more to me than 'Green Door.'”
“I'm sure I'm not the only artist to flinch remembering some of the tacky merchandise sold at gigs - flags, pillowcases - which I'd only seen for the first time when they were already on sale in the foyer.”
“Artists have different stages in their career, from George Michael via Wham! to people like Kylie. A change of perception is what's needed.”
“Freedom is not a God-given right, we have to earn it.”