Podcasts · Word In Your Ear

Suzi Quatro - how Dad, Elvis and Mickie Most transformed my life

22 Jul 2025 · 23 min · Episode 789

Suzi Quatro’s been onstage from the age of 14 as the bassist in the all-girl showband the Pleasure Seekers and the rock act Cradle. And then moved to England in 1971 when signed by Mickie Most. This podcast is a testament to the power of self-belief – she’s got more front than Woolworths! - and the two things her father told her. She’s just started another world tour and talks to us here about …

… how British “island humour” took a while to get used to.

… two deals in a week: “Elektra wanted the second Janis Joplin. Mickie Most wanted the first Suzi Quatro.”

… seeing Elvis on Ed Sullivan aged five and thinking “that’s what I want to do”. And how his comeback changed the clothes she wore.

… why playing a disastrous Sgt Pepper set at a ‘60s festival was a fork in the road.

… knowing she had “the X-Factor, the charisma button”.

… hard times in Crouch End while waiting for a hit and how Chinn & Chapman turned her sound in three-minute singles.

… supporting Slade and Thin Lizzy – and being supported by Kiss and Blue Oyster Cult.

… wise advice her father gave her.

… playing Leather Tuscadero in Happy Days and reunions with Henry Winkler.

… Michael Aspel wandering on from the wings for ‘This Is Your Life’ at the Palladium.

Order tickets here: http://www.suziquatro.com/

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