As the most celebrated female rock-and-roller in history releases her latest album, Suzi Quatro talks why she’s happier than ever, making records with her son and one moment she will always regret.
Whatever Suzi Quatro’s having, we want some! She’s 70 but looks a good ten years younger and her energy is infectious.
“I’m definitely a glass-half-full kinda gal,” she says in her unmistakeable Detroit City accent. “I always try to look for the positives and don’t really do regrets, although there is one…”
We’re all ears. “The time I turned down meeting Elvis Presley,” she continues. “Elvis was my hero. It was seeing him on TV aged five or six that made me determined to do what he did. So, we were playing a club in Memphis in 1974 and had just returned to the hotel after a soundcheck when the phone rang. I thought I was dreaming when I answered. ‘Ah, hello Suzi… ah, ah, ah…this is Elvis… and ah just wanted to let you know that ah really like your version of All Shook Up. Best ah heard since ma own’. All I could do was breathe. He continued, ‘Would y’all like to come up to Graceland for a visit?’
“This invitation was based solely on his hearing All Shook Up on my first album. He had never seen me live or anything. Believe it or not, I turned him down. I made some excuse about having no time in the schedule due to gigs, interviews and so on, and said goodbye. He must have been totally amazed at my reaction, and I still can’t believe it happened. But the truth is, I wasn’t ready to meet my hero. I was only one year into my success and didn’t feel worthy. What a first-class idiot to pass up a chance like that. It wouldn’t come my way again.”
Maybe not but Suzi’s not one to dwell. She prefers to make the best of every situation. Take this past year, for instance.
The Devil In Me
“I don’t know if we would have been able to record The Devil In Me (Suzi’s new album) if life had been normal over the last year,” she says. “I honestly don’t know where we’d have found the time as 2020 was shaping up to be a very busy year for me tour-wise plus my son Richard, who I write and record with, was also supposed to be on the road with his band.
“Then this time last year, we went into the first lockdown. I said to Richard, ‘Let’s take the silver lining from this situation and record our second album together’. We settled down at home in Essex – Richard went into the studio and started putting down tracks while I sat on the patio with my acoustic guitar and bass guitar, my song book and tablet. And boy-oh-boy, talk about creative! Once I started writing I just couldn’t stop. I still haven’t stopped and am writing songs for the next album, now. I’m kind of on a roll.”
Mother and son clearly work well together, then. “Yes we do. Richard came to me and said he wanted to write with me. He was very insistent. We started putting down demos and all of a sudden, I realised that it was serious. We were learning for our first album No Control but we knew how to work together for this one.
“Richard has spent his life watching his mamma on stage being Suzi Quatro. He always wanted me to make a certain kind of record again. He sees me a certain way and working with him has made me see myself through his eyes. I gave birth to him but now it’s as if he’s giving rebirth to me!
“Richard brings his 36-year-old ears to it while I bring my experience of 57 years in the business, and somehow together we’ve made this incredible album. It’s the best album of my career. Richard pushes me. He challenges me and I challenge him. This album has the stuff you’d expect from me – straight up rock and roll – but then there’s Heart and Soul. In that song, I sing in a voice I didn’t even know I had. It just came out.”
The ultimate girl rocker
Although Suzi’s the ultimate girl rocker whose style and hits such as Can the Can, 48 Crash and Devil Gate Drive inspired the likes of Blondie’s Debbie Harry and The Runaways’ Joan Jett, she’s never come close to being a rock n’roll casualty – like so many in her profession.
“I’m quite square in that way,” she reveals. “Taking drugs and the rest of it was just not me. I’m a professional and I do what I do because I love it. End of story. I’m not even one for temptation, to tell you the truth. Even in relationships. I was with my first husband Len for 20 years. I’m still friends with him, he’s the father of Richard and my daughter, Laura.
“I’ve been married to my second husband, Rainer Haas (a German concert promoter) for 27 years. It’s the kind of person I am. Basically, I’m a pretty straightforward girl. My mom was a strong woman with a strong Catholic faith. She was quite strict in the way she brought us up and I am very much my mother’s daughter.”
While Suzi is based in the UK, Rainer spends much of his time in Hamburg, where he works.
“It took me about two years to get used to a long-distance marriage but I can highly recommend it,” she explains. ‘You must have trust, though – trust, respect, communication and laughter are vital. The last year has made life difficult for us as we can’t just jump on a plane like we usually would, but we run two households quite successfully.”
Suzi certainly sounds happy enough.
“I am,” she confirms. “Actually, I’m having more fun now than I did in the Seventies. I really am! I don’t have anything left to prove. I’ve matured enough to thoroughly enjoy myself. I wear my leather suit on stage because I want to not because I have to.
“I’m able to do whatever kind of music I want. So, there’s nothing to prove, no rules for me anymore. I’ve been around long enough now to be able to say I can be exactly who I am.
I don’t really do age – I never have. I know I’m 70 but I feel like somebody must have put the wrong year on my birth certificate.”
n The Devil In Me is out now, CD rrp £13.89.
Suzi's latest album is available now on CD, vinyl and mp3 Downloads as well as to stream. To find out more about Suziu2019s latest news visit www.suziquatro.com