# Suzi Quatro After 61 years in music she still has stories to tell

An episode of [Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1751194045), 21 Oct 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c41d385f-64b2-4514-9415-b4d50130ce01/398c7594-de24-48f7-96a8-b4d5016c2b30/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1742151-672b-4e4d-997b-b4d50130ce0c

Rock icon Suzi Quatro joins us to discuss her seventh book, "Grave Undertakings," and reflects on her remarkable six-decade career in entertainment. She shares the fascinating creative process behind her latest psychological novel, her upcoming music projects, and her experiences as an actress on the iconic TV show "Happy Days." • Suzi discusses her new book "Grave Undertakings," which incorporates tombstone inscriptions collected from famous friends over 35 years • The book evolved from a collection of quotes into a psychological novel featuring six students and their Austrian professor • Creativity takes on a life of its own – Suzi often surprised herself when rereading her work • At almost 75, Suzi is working harder than ever with non-stop touring and recording • She calls her current phase "the gravy years" – enjoying her work without the pressure of early career • Her upcoming projects include a new rock album featuring Alice Cooper and her third poetry book • Suzi reflects on her role in "Happy Days" and how the cast helped her develop as an actress • Her ideal tombstone would read "Now I get it" on one side and "Too many dreams, too little time" on the other Find Suzi's new book "Grave Undertakings" wherever books are sold. Look for her upcoming rock album and catch her on tour across Europe and Australia this year See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to
[0:17] Speaker 1: work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years
[0:20] Speaker 1: of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether
[0:26] Speaker 1: famous stars, or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories
[0:31] Speaker 1: to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories,
[0:36] Speaker 1: which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution
[0:39] Speaker 1: of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives,
[0:43] Speaker 1: providing information on how they evolve into their chosen career.
[0:48] Speaker 1: We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their
[0:50] Speaker 1: struggles and successes, and hear from people who helped them
[0:54] Speaker 1: achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and
[0:58] Speaker 1: insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor.
[1:06] Speaker 1: Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. We're thrilled to have the
[1:10] Speaker 1: incredibly talented Suzy Cuatro with us today, a celebrated singer, songwriter, actress, artist,
[1:17] Speaker 1: and author. Susie is here to share her captivating new
[1:21] Speaker 1: book fresh off the press. Join us as she takes
[1:24] Speaker 1: us through the journey of writing it and reflects on
[1:27] Speaker 1: her remarkable career from soulful songwriting and electrifying performances to
[1:33] Speaker 1: iconic moments on happy days. It's truly a pleasure to
[1:36] Speaker 1: have her here with us today. So before we dive
[1:39] Speaker 1: into our episode, we'll be right back with an uninterrupted
[1:43] Speaker 1: show right after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for
[1:47] Speaker 1: joining us.
[1:47] Speaker 2: It's my pleasure.
[1:48] Speaker 1: So now I understand that you've written a book.
[1:52] Speaker 2: This is my seventh book. Yeah. The first one was
[1:58] Speaker 2: my autobiography Unzipped.
[2:00] Speaker 1: Okay.
[2:00] Speaker 2: That was in, I believe, 2006. Second one was my novel,
[2:05] Speaker 2: my first novel, The Hurricane. Then I had, and I don't.
[2:07] Speaker 3: Know the order of these, my two poetry books, Through
[2:10] Speaker 3: My Eyes and Through My Heart.
[2:11] Speaker 1: Okay.
[2:12] Speaker 3: Then I had Harvard-inspired mind thing caught through my thoughts.
[2:16] Speaker 3: Then a lyric book caught through my words. And now
[2:20] Speaker 3: this one here called Grave Undertakings.
[2:22] Speaker 1: Okay.
[2:23] Speaker 2: Which is what we're talking about today.
[2:25] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[2:25] Speaker 1: So what inspired that?
[2:28] Speaker 2: It's a funny story. I have this title. It must
[2:30] Speaker 2: have been 35, maybe even longer, years ago. I had
[2:32] Speaker 2: this great title.
[2:33] Speaker 3: To be quite honest, I'm one of those people, and
[2:36] Speaker 3: I've met other people like me too.
[2:38] Speaker 2: I'm a bit of a graveyard dweller. A lot of
[2:40] Speaker 2: people find graveyards fascinating. I'm one of them.
[2:42] Speaker 1: Okay.
[2:43] Speaker 3: You know, if I'm going by a church and it
[2:45] Speaker 3: goes through, you see the grave, I'm in there and
[2:48] Speaker 3: I'm looking at the tombstones. I do it all the time.
[2:50] Speaker 3: So that's probably where this title came from. And I
[2:52] Speaker 3: decided that I would collect tombstone inscriptions from friends of mine,
[2:58] Speaker 3: famous friends. And I did it all the way through
[3:01] Speaker 3: the years forever. I've got at the back of the book,
[3:04] Speaker 3: you find all the inscriptions. So many of them, loads
[3:06] Speaker 3: of them are dead.
[3:07] Speaker 2: You know, because it collected over so long. A lot
[3:10] Speaker 2: is still alive too.
[3:11] Speaker 3: Then I went to assemble the book about a year
[3:12] Speaker 3: and a half ago. I'm guessing about that. And as
[3:15] Speaker 3: I was putting the quotes together.
[3:17] Speaker 2: I realized it was a book. It was a story.
[3:19] Speaker 1: Okay.
[3:20] Speaker 2: And then the creativity took over and I went, wow.
[3:22] Speaker 3: And so I made it about, which I wanted the
[3:25] Speaker 3: quotes at the end to have a payoff so that
[3:27] Speaker 3: they had a reason to be there, you know? So
[3:29] Speaker 3: I took six psychology students. They needed a tutorial at
[3:33] Speaker 3: a college. but then Austrian professor and off you go
[3:37] Speaker 3: into their lives, you know, ins and outs, ups and downs, everything.
[3:41] Speaker 3: So it takes you on a little journey. I used
[3:43] Speaker 3: my imagination and I came up with six characters, you know,
[3:46] Speaker 3: three guys, three girls.
[3:48] Speaker 2: And to be quite honest, the story started to write itself.
[3:52] Speaker 3: So I kind of let the, as artistically it does,
[3:56] Speaker 3: once I came up with the characters and that I
[3:58] Speaker 3: wanted it to be a psychology course, 10 lessons, and
[4:01] Speaker 3: it takes you through their lives, and then each lesson
[4:04] Speaker 3: has a reason, and they discover things about themselves, about
[4:08] Speaker 3: each other. The professor, I don't want to give too
[4:11] Speaker 3: much away, but I feel kind of sorry for him.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Then at the end, when the story's over, then you
[4:15] Speaker 2: get all the tombstone quotes. I think there's about 150
[4:18] Speaker 2: in there.
[4:18] Speaker 1: Wow. So when you.
[4:22] Speaker 1: I've heard this so many times before that when somebody
[4:24] Speaker 1: starts writing, you come up with the ideas and then
[4:27] Speaker 1: all of a sudden it just starts flowing. And like
[4:30] Speaker 1: you said, it writes itself.
[4:32] Speaker 2: It does.
[4:33] Speaker 1: So as it flowed, did you find yourself being kind
[4:37] Speaker 1: of surprised to where it led to?
[4:40] Speaker 2: Well, two things happened. First of all. I'm not going
[4:42] Speaker 2: to lie about it.
[4:43] Speaker 3: When I wanted to go certain places in the lessons
[4:47] Speaker 3: and I didn't know certain technical terms and oh, this.
[4:49] Speaker 2: And that, I looked up different things and studied.
[4:52] Speaker 3: Sure. Studied different things I wanted to learn about.
[4:55] Speaker 2: And yes, what you're saying is right.
[4:57] Speaker 3: In fact, the biggest time that that happened was when
[5:00] Speaker 3: I took delivery of this book.
[5:02] Speaker 2: And she said, can you... look at it, and then
[5:04] Speaker 2: approve it, and then we go to print.
[5:06] Speaker 3: Right. So I thought to myself, okay, let's sit down,
[5:10] Speaker 3: divorce myself from it.
[5:12] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[5:12] Speaker 2: Read it as a reader.
[5:13] Speaker 3: Sure.
[5:14] Speaker 2: Forget about it. I didn't write it.
[5:15] Speaker 3: Read it. Right.
[5:16] Speaker 2: I must have stopped every half an hour and thought,
[5:18] Speaker 2: who wrote this? You do lose the sense of what
[5:24] Speaker 2: you did.
[5:25] Speaker 3: Right. And it's funny because if you're an artiste like
[5:28] Speaker 3: I am, it does take over. Right.
[5:30] Speaker 2: And it just goes... Sometimes I've talked to other songwriters
[5:34] Speaker 2: about this as well.
[5:35] Speaker 3: You write a song, you stick it down so you
[5:37] Speaker 3: don't forget it on a little tape recorder or whatever.
[5:39] Speaker 3: And you go back the next day and you listen
[5:41] Speaker 3: and you're so surprised. And you honestly don't have any memory.
[5:44] Speaker 1: Right.
[5:45] Speaker 2: And this book surprised me all the way through.
[5:48] Speaker 1: It's amazing you brought that up because I was going
[5:49] Speaker 1: to ask you, because when you're in the studio, you
[5:53] Speaker 1: lay down the tracks, you lay down your vocals, and
[5:55] Speaker 1: then you come back the next day and you listen
[5:58] Speaker 1: to them with fresh ears. So did this create fresh eyes?
[6:02] Speaker 2: Absolutely fresh eyes.
[6:03] Speaker 3: Yeah. I found myself actually saying, which is really crazy.
[6:08] Speaker 3: I wonder what happens next. And then I say, Susie,
[6:11] Speaker 3: you wrote it. No, you do lose track. It's absolutely true.
[6:15] Speaker 3: That's the wonderful thing about creativity.
[6:19] Speaker 2: Actually, it's magical.
[6:20] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
[6:21] Speaker 1: So what was your emotions through the whole thing? Because
[6:23] Speaker 1: this is something that you created rather than just something
[6:26] Speaker 1: that's actual happened. So how did the emotions feel once
[6:30] Speaker 1: you'd got it completed and then you reread it and
[6:34] Speaker 1: kind of sat back and go, whoa, this is mine.
[6:36] Speaker 2: Yeah, I was I was able to pick out. So
[6:40] Speaker 2: obviously every writer writes about what they know.
[6:42] Speaker 3: Right.
[6:43] Speaker 2: You know, you have to personalize it.
[6:44] Speaker 3: Just like when you act in a part, you find
[6:46] Speaker 3: things of yourself that you can relate to. So as
[6:49] Speaker 3: it turned out to be a psychological book, I'm a
[6:51] Speaker 3: very psychological person anyway.
[6:53] Speaker 2: I could have actually done that as a living had
[6:55] Speaker 2: I not gone into the arts.
[6:57] Speaker 1: Right.
[6:57] Speaker 3: I think I would have been either a psychiatrist or
[6:59] Speaker 3: a criminal lawyer. They're pretty much the same thing. So, yeah,
[7:04] Speaker 3: my emotions were strange. I was very proud of what
[7:07] Speaker 3: I'd done. And at the same time, I was surprised
[7:10] Speaker 3: at what it showed me about my inner workings because
[7:13] Speaker 3: there's a bit of me in every character, you know?
[7:15] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[7:16] Speaker 2: Show us your little areas of, oh, my God. Yeah.
[7:20] Speaker 1: Was there any surprises, something that you wrote down that
[7:25] Speaker 1: it's like, where did that come from?
[7:26] Speaker 2: There were a lot of surprises.
[7:28] Speaker 3: Okay.
[7:29] Speaker 2: I'm telling you, people have said that to me.
[7:32] Speaker 3: Where did exactly that, where did you get that from?
[7:34] Speaker 2: I have to say, I don't know. A lot of surprises.
[7:39] Speaker 2: It took twists and turns.
[7:40] Speaker 3: I didn't expect it to take, but once I was
[7:42] Speaker 3: in these characters and I, then you, of course you
[7:44] Speaker 3: make friends with each character, you know, you make them
[7:47] Speaker 3: and then you make ends of them. And I found
[7:49] Speaker 3: myself having feelings about each character and I, I felt bad.
[7:52] Speaker 3: I took one character one way. I felt really bad
[7:55] Speaker 3: about it. But I thought, no, no, no, no, no.
[7:57] Speaker 3: You have to go this way. There's just no other
[8:00] Speaker 3: way to go. I'm sorry about that, you know. But yeah,
[8:02] Speaker 3: you'll probably relate. Most people are relating to one or
[8:06] Speaker 3: two of the characters. But the best compliment I got
[8:08] Speaker 3: was a guy that was interviewing me May the 1st.
[8:12] Speaker 3: And he woke me about two or three weeks before that.
[8:15] Speaker 3: And he said, I know we're talking and I'm going
[8:17] Speaker 3: to review your book. He said, but I have to
[8:19] Speaker 3: tell you, I've read it. Good. And I did not
[8:23] Speaker 3: expect this, he said. Where did you get your psychological
[8:27] Speaker 3: knowledge from? How did you put it in such a
[8:29] Speaker 3: compelling fictional manner? And then he said, this should be
[8:33] Speaker 3: required reading for every human and every psychology student.
[8:37] Speaker 1: I went, what? Nice, nice.
[8:40] Speaker 2: I guess it touched him.
[8:41] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[8:42] Speaker 2: That's the nice thing. You've got, you know, I have.
[8:44] Speaker 3: To say, because I'm that way minded anyway, I am.
[8:48] Speaker 3: always analyzing and a sponge. If something goes wrong, I'll
[8:52] Speaker 3: think about it till I figure it out. So coming
[8:55] Speaker 3: up with this title and the tombstones, and then coming
[8:58] Speaker 3: up with the idea to do a novel, it gave
[9:00] Speaker 3: me a wide blank canvas to write all my stuff
[9:06] Speaker 3: that I do.
[9:07] Speaker 2: I'm a mind person.
[9:08] Speaker 3: So I was able to Really enjoy all the things
[9:11] Speaker 3: I've learned through the years. Yeah. Being in the business
[9:14] Speaker 3: 21 years, you know, and having to learn about people
[9:16] Speaker 3: real quick and having to suss people out and size.
[9:19] Speaker 2: Up an audience. And it's the school of life.
[9:21] Speaker 3: Yeah. And I didn't graduate high school, but I know people. Yeah.
[9:25] Speaker 1: You know, common sense lots of times overrides education.
[9:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
[9:29] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[9:30] Speaker 1: So did you find yourself, did any of the characters
[9:33] Speaker 1: that you've ever played in the past influence some of
[9:36] Speaker 1: the things that some of your characters did in this book?
[9:39] Speaker 3: So I tried to get a visual, and I'm sure
[9:43] Speaker 3: my husband won't mind me saying it, but to begin with,
[9:45] Speaker 3: I used me as Penelope Perfect and my husband as
[9:49] Speaker 3: Max Morose.
[9:50] Speaker 2: I thought it was a good.
[9:50] Speaker 3: Starting point because I am optimistic and he's naturally pessimistic.
[9:55] Speaker 3: And that was one of the first things the professor
[9:57] Speaker 3: talks about. So I used this to begin with. And
[10:00] Speaker 3: then that got me flowing.
[10:01] Speaker 2: And then I had to get some, you know, most
[10:03] Speaker 2: of the characters I had a visual.
[10:05] Speaker 3: Sure.
[10:07] Speaker 2: I think to myself, I knew somebody like this in school.
[10:11] Speaker 3: Yeah. So you can go back to that kind of character. So, yeah,
[10:14] Speaker 3: I think every writer does that, even when you write
[10:16] Speaker 3: your song. If it's not about you particularly, then you
[10:18] Speaker 3: have to find a focal point.
[10:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so now you've got the book out.
[10:26] Speaker 1: Where can people get a hold of it?
[10:28] Speaker 2: Everywhere that you can get books.
[10:29] Speaker 1: Okay.
[10:31] Speaker 2: You can order from any shop. You can order it online.
[10:34] Speaker 2: And I'm hoping now to maybe, I want to get
[10:36] Speaker 2: this made into a 10-part TV series.
[10:39] Speaker 1: Oh, nice.
[10:40] Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be good?
[10:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. That would be exciting.
[10:43] Speaker 2: It screams for.
[10:44] Speaker 1: It, really. That's great. So you're going to be working
[10:47] Speaker 1: on trying to get a screenplay for it put together.
[10:50] Speaker 1: Are you planning on doing it?
[10:51] Speaker 3: I want to be involved, obviously. I mean, I've never
[10:54] Speaker 3: done a screenplay, so I don't say that I could
[10:56] Speaker 3: do that.
[10:56] Speaker 2: But I'd like to be involved. Yeah, sure.
[10:59] Speaker 1: Sure, that makes sense. Because you've got an idea of
[11:01] Speaker 1: where you want to take it.
[11:02] Speaker 2: Absolutely.
[11:03] Speaker 1: And every time they write a screenplay or from a book,
[11:05] Speaker 1: they take parts out. They do different things. So you
[11:07] Speaker 1: definitely want to keep the body of your work.
[11:10] Speaker 2: Keep my hand on it. Absolutely.
[11:11] Speaker 1: Yeah. So any plans musically? Are you going out on
[11:14] Speaker 1: tour this year? Are you doing anything there?
[11:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, nonstop.
[11:18] Speaker 3: I'm just starting recording my next solo album, which is good.
[11:22] Speaker 2: And I'm doing nonstop gigs this year, June, July, and August.
[11:26] Speaker 3: My feet don't touch the ground. September, then I got
[11:29] Speaker 3: another Australian tour, my 41st tour.
[11:30] Speaker 2: Nice. It was crazy. The next year I'm doing 10
[11:35] Speaker 2: shows in the UK. So I'm looking forward to that.
[11:38] Speaker 3: I'm working harder than I've ever done and constantly releasing material,
[11:42] Speaker 3: writing books.
[11:43] Speaker 2: You know, I'm not one of these sit still people.
[11:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm the same way. Do you find yourself now
[11:49] Speaker 1: that you are in a situation where you can do
[11:52] Speaker 1: what you want to do? You can sit back and
[11:55] Speaker 1: look at what you've done. Do you find yourself in
[11:57] Speaker 1: a situation of now you can enjoy more of what
[11:59] Speaker 1: you're doing rather than earlier years? It was constant, get
[12:03] Speaker 1: out there, make your name, get it out there. Do
[12:05] Speaker 1: you find the difference that you've expanded now so that
[12:08] Speaker 1: when you do something, it's like, yeah, I'm really looking
[12:10] Speaker 1: forward to this?
[12:11] Speaker 2: Yes.
[12:12] Speaker 3: I think when you're first in the business and you're
[12:14] Speaker 3: just dating, you know, you're just having your hits and blah, blah, blah.
[12:17] Speaker 2: It's nonstop deadline and pressure. Sure. It is.
[12:22] Speaker 1: Sure.
[12:22] Speaker 3: Every artist will tell you that. So it's like, oh,
[12:24] Speaker 3: my God, I hope my voice is OK tonight. But
[12:27] Speaker 3: of course, that's how it is. Now I'm going to
[12:30] Speaker 3: be 75 in June, 61 years in the business.
[12:33] Speaker 2: I basically can do what I like.
[12:35] Speaker 3: Yeah. Got my performance down pat. I do my two
[12:38] Speaker 3: hour shows. My voice is better than it's ever been.
[12:40] Speaker 2: You know what? What you just said is right.
[12:43] Speaker 3: Now I call them the gravy years. Yeah. And I
[12:46] Speaker 3: can enjoy what I do. Not that you don't have
[12:50] Speaker 3: the pressure of always doing a good job.
[12:51] Speaker 2: That's always there. Yes. But it's not like, I am
[12:55] Speaker 2: Suzy Cuatro, but I don't have to be Suzy Cuatro.
[12:58] Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
[12:58] Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So what's on the bucket list? I mean,
[13:03] Speaker 1: you've done all these things, you're 60 years of in
[13:06] Speaker 1: the business. What are some of the things that you
[13:08] Speaker 1: still look at and say, man, I'd really like to
[13:09] Speaker 1: do this?
[13:10] Speaker 2: Oh my God, I've done so much of everything.
[13:12] Speaker 1: Oh.
[13:13] Speaker 3: I've just delivered my third poetry book that'll come out
[13:17] Speaker 3: this summer. Nice.
[13:18] Speaker 2: No, I can't think of anything. I try not to
[13:21] Speaker 2: have goals.
[13:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
[13:23] Speaker 2: Because as an artist, if you have a goal, what
[13:27] Speaker 2: happens when you reach it?
[13:28] Speaker 1: Right, right, exactly.
[13:31] Speaker 2: You better keep it open. Then you've got nothing to
[13:33] Speaker 2: wake up for. Oh, I did that. Now you're dead.
[13:35] Speaker 2: Then I'm in the book.
[13:36] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[13:37] Speaker 2: Oh, and my tombstone, by the way, I must tell
[13:41] Speaker 2: you that because I've got a good one. I'm a Gemini.
[13:43] Speaker 1: Okay.
[13:44] Speaker 2: So I get two sides.
[13:45] Speaker 1: Okay.
[13:46] Speaker 2: And the first side says that now I get it.
[13:48] Speaker 3: Okay.
[13:49] Speaker 2: And the second side says, too many dreams, too little time.
[13:52] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[13:53] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Because, you know, when you sit back
[13:57] Speaker 1: and you look at your career, you've started out with
[14:00] Speaker 1: a goal, and then you get to the point of
[14:03] Speaker 1: where you've done what you've done. You can sit back
[14:05] Speaker 1: and look at your body of work, everything that you've done,
[14:08] Speaker 1: and look at all the things that created it, and
[14:11] Speaker 1: you can sit back and take a comfort in this, like,
[14:13] Speaker 1: you know, not bad.
[14:15] Speaker 2: Not bad.
[14:16] Speaker 3: In fact, one of the poems in my book that
[14:18] Speaker 3: i just delivered that didn't out yet i was i
[14:22] Speaker 3: was musing on that fact one time i was sitting
[14:24] Speaker 3: alone and i was thinking just about that you know
[14:27] Speaker 3: sometimes you're more you know your mind goes there that's
[14:30] Speaker 3: everybody does everybody thinks about the mortality sometimes yeah and
[14:34] Speaker 3: one of the poems that ends with that it says
[14:36] Speaker 3: if the good lord to take me tonight i've left.
[14:38] Speaker 1: A lot here yeah Absolutely.
[14:42] Speaker 2: I've left a body of work. I mean, my God,
[14:44] Speaker 2: a lot. I'm proud of that.
[14:46] Speaker 1: So what stands out to you? I mean, when you
[14:49] Speaker 1: look back and you reflect, what stands out? What do
[14:51] Speaker 1: you look at and say, yeah, I'm really proud that
[14:53] Speaker 1: I did that?
[14:55] Speaker 3: That's a big question. I'm very proud that I have
[14:59] Speaker 3: been able to.
[15:00] Speaker 2: Be this successful still today.
[15:02] Speaker 3: Feel grateful and love it so much and still be,
[15:05] Speaker 3: you know, a little bit, oh, my God, you're going
[15:07] Speaker 3: to let me go on stage. And the most thing
[15:09] Speaker 3: that I'm proud of is my feet are very much
[15:12] Speaker 3: on the ground.
[15:12] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good. Because some people don't ever get that.
[15:16] Speaker 1: And that's good that you do.
[15:18] Speaker 2: No, they don't.
[15:19] Speaker 1: Now, what about I know I talk with other artists
[15:21] Speaker 1: that have been out there for years like yourself. And
[15:24] Speaker 1: it's interesting to get their reflection on when they go
[15:27] Speaker 1: out on stage, the audience that's in front of them.
[15:30] Speaker 1: Do you find yourself with the people that started out
[15:33] Speaker 1: following you, then their kids and their grandkids, and you
[15:35] Speaker 1: see all these age variances?
[15:37] Speaker 2: You certainly do. You get whole families there, which is fantastic.
[15:42] Speaker 3: Yeah. That means, you know, your legacy continues. And with
[15:45] Speaker 3: the Internet, of course, you know, they have access to everything.
[15:49] Speaker 3: I'm very much an audience person, so I like to
[15:54] Speaker 3: relate to every single person in their room. It's so funny.
[15:58] Speaker 3: You can have 5,000 people, but if there's one person
[16:00] Speaker 3: not going, I will find him. Yeah.
[16:04] Speaker 2: I get a laser. Yeah.
[16:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great.
[16:08] Speaker 3: I still love, I still love, love, love performing. That's
[16:11] Speaker 3: what keeps me going. Yeah.
[16:13] Speaker 1: So what's next? You've got the book out there. You've
[16:16] Speaker 1: talked about possibly turning it into a series or doing
[16:19] Speaker 1: something with that. What's next? What's your vision now?
[16:22] Speaker 2: Well, right now I'm working on the new album.
[16:24] Speaker 1: Okay.
[16:24] Speaker 2: I've got no ideas for any more books and not
[16:27] Speaker 2: at the moment anyway.
[16:27] Speaker 3: Okay.
[16:29] Speaker 2: More gigs. I just want to keep feeling like I feel.
[16:32] Speaker 2: That's my goal. Be happy.
[16:34] Speaker 1: And that's great. I mean, the fact that you're getting
[16:36] Speaker 1: ready to turn 75 and you're still out there doing
[16:38] Speaker 1: what you're doing and doing it at a high level
[16:41] Speaker 1: and a high quality, you know, that speaks volumes.
[16:45] Speaker 2: It does speak volumes.
[16:46] Speaker 3: And like I said, it's a little bit of everything.
[16:49] Speaker 3: I used to hate it when people say, oh, you
[16:51] Speaker 3: got lucky.
[16:52] Speaker 2: It's not luck. You have to have the talent. But
[16:55] Speaker 2: saying that, Of course, luck comes into it.
[16:58] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[16:58] Speaker 2: But first you got to have the talent or you're
[17:00] Speaker 2: not going to get very.
[17:01] Speaker 1: Lucky, you know?
[17:02] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
[17:03] Speaker 2: It's great. It's just great.
[17:05] Speaker 3: I love my job and I've been very blessed that
[17:07] Speaker 3: I have been allowed to be successful at my chosen career. Yeah.
[17:11] Speaker 1: And now did you, when you first started out, you
[17:13] Speaker 1: was more on the singing side. Was you kind of
[17:16] Speaker 1: surprised that you wound up in the acting? I mean,
[17:19] Speaker 1: happy days and all those situations?
[17:21] Speaker 2: No, not at all. Not at all.
[17:23] Speaker 3: I knew... In fact, I'm that kind of entertainer, to
[17:27] Speaker 3: tell you the truth, that I could have gone this way,
[17:30] Speaker 3: that way, this way, that way. I always knew I
[17:32] Speaker 3: could act. It wasn't as nice to me. I even
[17:35] Speaker 3: thought about being a comedian when I was a young girl.
[17:38] Speaker 3: I can tell a good joke. I was always writing.
[17:40] Speaker 3: I was always painting. I'm just an artiste.
[17:43] Speaker 1: That's nice.
[17:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, and anything within this big ball of wax that's
[17:49] Speaker 2: called the app, if I can do it, I will
[17:51] Speaker 2: do it.
[17:51] Speaker 3: I try not to do what I can't do, but
[17:53] Speaker 3: I have a good thing about what I can do.
[17:55] Speaker 1: Well, the beauty of it is when a person self-reflects
[17:58] Speaker 1: on what they're doing, they can look at what they're doing,
[18:02] Speaker 1: whether it be a book, or music or acting or art,
[18:06] Speaker 1: you know, a good one can look at that, whatever
[18:10] Speaker 1: it is, and say, you know what? That's crap. I
[18:12] Speaker 1: need to make it better. Or, man, this is really good.
[18:15] Speaker 1: If I do this, it'll make it superb. You got
[18:18] Speaker 1: to know, oh, absolutely.
[18:19] Speaker 2: I can be watching something on TV that I've done.
[18:23] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:24] Speaker 2: I will critique it.
[18:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. You know, and even if I watch a
[18:28] Speaker 3: live show and somebody's taped it, I might go, didn't
[18:31] Speaker 3: like that bit. No, no.
[18:33] Speaker 2: And always, and you're always learning.
[18:34] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:35] Speaker 2: You're always upgrading your show. But you always do.
[18:37] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:38] Speaker 2: I've heard live CDs back on my show. I've said
[18:40] Speaker 2: to myself, don't say that again. That's not funny.
[18:42] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:42] Speaker 2: You know, yeah, you got.
[18:44] Speaker 3: You've got to be able to step outside the, I
[18:46] Speaker 3: hate using the word, but it's not, you're alter ego.
[18:49] Speaker 2: You have to be able to step outside it and
[18:51] Speaker 2: look at it with honest eyes.
[18:53] Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, exactly. So when you go on stage, what's
[18:57] Speaker 1: a typical, what's it look like? Not from your end,
[19:01] Speaker 1: from the audience's end.
[19:03] Speaker 2: Oh, gosh.
[19:04] Speaker 1: What are they going to see?
[19:05] Speaker 3: They see, well, I'm going to not put myself in
[19:07] Speaker 3: the audience. They see this small girl with this big
[19:12] Speaker 3: bass guitar. straight onto the stage like she owns it
[19:16] Speaker 3: but at the same time a little.
[19:17] Speaker 1: Bit shy okay i get that i get that.
[19:20] Speaker 2: Because because when you walk out there you're kind of
[19:22] Speaker 2: thinking i hope they like me.
[19:26] Speaker 1: Yeah yeah um i love it i do love it
[19:29] Speaker 1: that's that's great so so um are you planning on
[19:32] Speaker 1: coming to the u.s at all in a tour.
[19:34] Speaker 3: You know, I'm always trying to get back there and
[19:36] Speaker 3: it always seems to fall through, but I'm not going
[19:38] Speaker 3: to say never.
[19:38] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[19:39] Speaker 2: Not going to say never. So I would love to.
[19:41] Speaker 2: I'd love to come there and tour. I think the
[19:42] Speaker 2: last one I did was, what year was it? It
[19:45] Speaker 2: was our anniversary. What year, Ryder? Ryder, what year was
[19:49] Speaker 2: it that we went? Oh, he's sleeping. Ryder, what year
[19:52] Speaker 2: did we have our River Creek Casino? You'll think of it.
[19:56] Speaker 2: He's Mr. Mind over here.
[19:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, no problem.
[19:59] Speaker 2: It was one of our anniversaries. Which? 2018.
[20:03] Speaker 3: Okay, 2018, I played at the River Creek Casino in Canada,
[20:07] Speaker 3: sold it out two nights.
[20:08] Speaker 1: Yeah, nice.
[20:09] Speaker 2: But I'd love to come back. Maybe it'll happen because,
[20:11] Speaker 2: you know, it's always mentioned. So who knows? Never say anything.
[20:14] Speaker 1: So do you go home much?
[20:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been to Detroit quite a few times. Twice for,
[20:18] Speaker 2: I mean, I went there a lot in the older
[20:20] Speaker 2: days that we were always playing and did tours.
[20:23] Speaker 3: I did two BBC radio shows there, which is what
[20:27] Speaker 3: we just talked about.
[20:29] Speaker 2: One for Motown and then one for the white rock
[20:30] Speaker 2: and roll bands. I did two birthdays there, 65 and 70.
[20:33] Speaker 2: All right. Brother Beast came to the 70th.
[20:38] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[20:39] Speaker 3: And I've been there to get my Michigan Rock and
[20:44] Speaker 3: Roll Hall of Fame award.
[20:45] Speaker 2: Then I went there again to do Dick Wagner, Charity
[20:49] Speaker 2: for the Children.
[20:49] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[20:50] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[20:51] Speaker 2: And I was there recently, the most important, last September.
[20:55] Speaker 2: And we recorded a duet, Alice Cooper and I.
[20:59] Speaker 1: Nice, nice.
[21:01] Speaker 2: He's on my new album. Yeah.
[21:02] Speaker 3: So I don't want to talk too much about that
[21:04] Speaker 3: because it's not released yet, but we did 8-track and
[21:07] Speaker 3: made a video.
[21:07] Speaker 2: He agreed to appear on my next album.
[21:10] Speaker 1: Nice, nice. And that's what I was going to ask you.
[21:12] Speaker 1: What's the new music going to sound like that you're
[21:15] Speaker 1: coming out with?
[21:16] Speaker 2: It's kind of full circle back to more where I began.
[21:21] Speaker 3: Oh, nice. Yeah.
[21:23] Speaker 2: So it is a rock album. This is a rock album.
[21:25] Speaker 1: All right, good, good.
[21:27] Speaker 3: We just did three days in the studio with putting
[21:29] Speaker 3: down the bass and the drums, and I played heavy
[21:33] Speaker 3: bass for five hours each day.
[21:35] Speaker 1: All right, okay.
[21:36] Speaker 2: A little bit swollen.
[21:38] Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah.
[21:39] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was something else, yeah.
[21:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, but when you sit down and you've got it
[21:43] Speaker 1: all finished, you can sit back and say, you know,
[21:45] Speaker 1: it was worth it all because listen to that sound.
[21:47] Speaker 1: There's nothing that beats that.
[21:49] Speaker 2: No, there is nothing.
[21:50] Speaker 3: The satisfaction is great. You know, yeah, it might be
[21:53] Speaker 3: hard laying it down, laying it down.
[21:54] Speaker 2: And then you listen, you go, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
[21:56] Speaker 1: And it's always nice because just like writing a book
[21:59] Speaker 1: when the characters take over, when you're in the studio,
[22:02] Speaker 1: the studio magic can happen. And then all of a
[22:04] Speaker 1: sudden you just got something that just really shines.
[22:06] Speaker 2: I was just in a different zone.
[22:08] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[22:09] Speaker 3: The engineer actually turned around to me because we were
[22:12] Speaker 3: talking about that after the track.
[22:14] Speaker 2: And he said, yeah, he said, I couldn't even get
[22:17] Speaker 2: you to look at me. I said, I know what's
[22:18] Speaker 2: in my whole little place.
[22:20] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[22:20] Speaker 2: I just, you're, you're, you're in the music basically.
[22:24] Speaker 1: That's right. It absorbs you. Yeah. Well, this is great.
[22:27] Speaker 1: So what would you like to let the listeners know
[22:30] Speaker 1: that in case just anything coming up or what you'd
[22:33] Speaker 1: like them to know about you?
[22:35] Speaker 2: It's all there.
[22:36] Speaker 3: Everything you need to know is in my song lyrics,
[22:38] Speaker 3: in my songs, in my books, in my TV appearances.
[22:42] Speaker 2: It's all there. My radio shows. I don't hide. Okay,
[22:45] Speaker 2: what you see is what you get.
[22:47] Speaker 1: That's great. I love the fact that you keep in
[22:49] Speaker 1: touch with everybody, Donnie and Anson and all that. That's
[22:52] Speaker 1: the one thing that Donnie and Anson always tell me, man,
[22:54] Speaker 1: it's like we're family.
[22:55] Speaker 2: It was like a family.
[22:57] Speaker 3: And in fact, just before we go, I actually said
[23:00] Speaker 3: to Ron one time, we were talking, and I said,
[23:04] Speaker 3: did I seem like A new.
[23:08] Speaker 2: Actress on the show.
[23:09] Speaker 3: He said, no, that's the strangest thing, Susie.
[23:13] Speaker 2: From the first show, it was like you had always
[23:15] Speaker 2: been there.
[23:16] Speaker 1: Nice.
[23:17] Speaker 2: Yeah. So it was just comfortable.
[23:19] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[23:20] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[23:20] Speaker 1: Here just a few months ago, they were in Nashville.
[23:22] Speaker 2: That's right. I saw that.
[23:23] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[23:24] Speaker 2: They're trying to get me to come along on one
[23:26] Speaker 2: of them. I'm trying to see if I can do
[23:27] Speaker 2: it or not. So that would be great.
[23:29] Speaker 1: The four of them got together.
[23:30] Speaker 2: I know, I know.
[23:31] Speaker 3: And they're trying to get me, but it's whether my
[23:34] Speaker 3: gigs interfere because I would come.
[23:36] Speaker 2: That would be fab. Yeah, that would be good.
[23:38] Speaker 1: It's always fun to get the people together. I mean,
[23:41] Speaker 1: Alison Arngram, she was the evil little one on Little
[23:44] Speaker 1: House on the Prairie. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes,
[23:47] Speaker 1: I had her on just last week. Little House on
[23:49] Speaker 1: the Prairie was the same thing as Happy Days last year,
[23:51] Speaker 1: 50th anniversary.
[23:52] Speaker 2: That's right. That's right.
[23:54] Speaker 1: It's amazing. You sit back and some of these shows,
[23:56] Speaker 1: you look at them as 50 years ago.
[23:58] Speaker 2: Couldn't get much bigger than Happy Days. No.
[24:01] Speaker 1: It was. When you was on Happy Days and they
[24:04] Speaker 1: were putting that out, what were some of your emotions
[24:06] Speaker 1: that went through on that? How did you feel about
[24:08] Speaker 1: being part of that iconic show? Obviously, I was.
[24:11] Speaker 2: Honored to be part of it, but I remember we
[24:14] Speaker 2: were reading... through the script. First time I met everybody.
[24:17] Speaker 3: So we're in the room reading through the script the
[24:19] Speaker 3: next day. You're in the, where they filmed it and
[24:22] Speaker 3: you're running through it with your scripts. But I sensed,
[24:25] Speaker 3: I don't know if I was right or wrong, but
[24:27] Speaker 3: I think I was right. I sensed that they probably
[24:30] Speaker 3: were thinking, huh, not that they didn't like me, but huh.
[24:33] Speaker 3: So she comes over with all these hits and she
[24:35] Speaker 3: walks in and thinks she can act. I had a
[24:36] Speaker 3: feeling that that might've been the feeling from somebody. So
[24:40] Speaker 3: before we started rehearsals the next day, they were all
[24:43] Speaker 3: sitting there and I said, listen, I got to tell
[24:44] Speaker 3: you all something. I said, okay, I know you all
[24:46] Speaker 3: know my history and where I come from and that
[24:48] Speaker 3: I've been very successful and blah.
[24:50] Speaker 2: I said, okay, I've done that a long time. This
[24:53] Speaker 2: is my first show as an actress, and I would
[24:56] Speaker 2: appreciate any help that you can give me. Nice. And boy,
[25:00] Speaker 2: did they.
[25:00] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[25:01] Speaker 2: They all did. Ron would say, speak up a little
[25:04] Speaker 2: bit on this line, do this on that. And Henry
[25:07] Speaker 2: gave me a good tip.
[25:08] Speaker 3: He said, I was just watching you walk around the
[25:11] Speaker 3: Cunningham living room.
[25:13] Speaker 2: He said, dude, do me a favor. Walk away from
[25:15] Speaker 2: me and come back. And I walked away, came back.
[25:16] Speaker 2: He said, you got a great walk. I said, thank you.
[25:19] Speaker 2: He said, you're not walking like that in the living room.
[25:21] Speaker 1: I said, I have not.
[25:22] Speaker 3: He said, no, you're walking like you've never been in
[25:24] Speaker 3: there before. So while we're doing something else in one
[25:27] Speaker 3: of the other scenes, go over there and walk.
[25:29] Speaker 2: In that room. And he was right. Made me comfortable.
[25:33] Speaker 2: So yeah, everybody helped.
[25:34] Speaker 1: So it was good.
[25:35] Speaker 2: It was a good show to be on.
[25:36] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. And the great thing is 50 years later
[25:39] Speaker 1: is still relevant.
[25:41] Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
[25:41] Speaker 1: That's got to be just a great feeling to be
[25:43] Speaker 1: part of something like that.
[25:45] Speaker 2: Oh, gotcha. I'm very proud of that.
[25:46] Speaker 1: Well, again, I appreciate you coming on. It's been great.
[25:49] Speaker 2: Okay, my pleasure. It was great to talk to you.
[25:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, same here.
[25:52] Speaker 2: And thank you very much for your time, too.
[25:54] Speaker 1: It's been my pleasure. Thanks for joining us today. We
[26:07] Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed the show. This has been a Tony
[26:12] Speaker 1: Mantour production. For more information, contact media at platomusic.com.

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