Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm always aware of mortality.
There's no such thing as 'I can't do it'.
I made a creativity out of that messiness.
That's what I like to do, I like to make songs.
I like situations that force me to rethink things.
I'm often prone to self-doubt about everything I do.
You can't keep pursuing pop success, and chasing the past.
It's a shame in a way that people come and go with one album.
I don't really have anything against Will Young or Gareth Gates.
I became the magnet for a lot of scary aggression. Cos it's scary Up North!
These days i tend to use one project I do as a kind of offshoot to the next.
Russia can be quite a dangerous place sometimes, but I never think about it.
Maybe I was a bit harsh on some people. But I was harshest on myself, really.
As soon as one project is finished I like to go straight on to something else.
If you were born by the sea, there's always a magnet that draws you back there.
As long as ugly people are not on TV, you should only ever have interesting people on TV.
People always go on about sleaze, but I think it's only a small part of what I write about.
I think there's always been singers like that and i've done my fair share of cheese as well.
I thought, I'm in my late 50s now, am I ever gonna get the chance to do another album again?
My next record I really just want it to be a collection of great songs, classic songs in a way.
The weird thing was that Soft Cell was supposed to have come and gone before I started the album.
Russians have a new freedom, but as long as they don't express that freedom on a public platform.
Albums, with me, have never had an easy birth. Especially when all the songs are self-written songs.
I don't care much about success or anything like that. I've only ever wanted life to be an adventure.
I love this idea of shape-shifting and changing when you put on clothes, and turn into somebody else.
I have a long history with Soho: even when I was at art college, I came down to Soho to work in the summer.
I think the older I get the more creative I get, I don't have the distractions that I had when I was younger.
I've always been the sort of person who immerses myself in things, and eventually you become part of that life.
I'm the most indecisive person in the world. I'll do three versions of a song, then think, "Is the demo better?"
I'm always more interested in trying things that will push me, and I don't care if I fall flat on my face doing it.
I liked the idea of writing a song saying I'm happy with who I am, and I don't mind if people think I'm some old git.
People come from all over the world to see this little place they've seen in movies and read about in history books: Soho.
I was a magnet for people who want to take advantage of people like me, who think they're part of this life but they're not.
A lot of youth today have become very narrow and conservative in a way, whereas we in the older generation are kind of living it.
Don't sing a song you can't carry off, like some 16-year-old kid singing 'My Way'. That song's not for you. You haven't lived that.
So often, the singer is the sound of the record. People think they can cover anything, but the whole voice is the thing that's unrepeatable.
I think in the past I think I probably was a little too diverse, probably went from one spectrum to the complete opposite and confusing people.
I can't read music and I'm crap at learning lyrics. Especially since the accident I have memory problems. I can't remember words, names, places.
I've always loved the rock & roll element to live shows, because whatever else I do, I'm basically a rock/pop performer, and that's what I like.
I don't enjoy being a celebrity, I don't want any part of that or any part of that fame for fame... i'd actually rather die than be a celebrity slime!!!
Sometimes I ask myself, "Should I be out in a club?" But it's about realising I don't need to be always chasing after being who I was 20 or 30 years ago.
When people talk about gender-benders and bracket me with George, I always think I'm not like that. I had more of a rock edge, mixed with the 80s electro.
I'd always wanted to write a song about a leather jacket and how wearing it makes you feel. I love leather jackets, and I've got a big collection of them.
That's the way I work and one day I won't have the energy to do it, so I think it's always good to make the most of your life and living as much as possible.
I was very much a mess, as a person. I'd come from a very turbulent teenage life, with parents who had broken up in a very bad way, and a lot of illness at school.
I've got so much I want to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. People say to me, "You really shouldn't do so many records", because it actually harms your career.
I mean whatever I do it's important that I put my stamp on it and keep it in my world, whether I'm doing a dance track or something like the Russian album for example.
Frank Sinatra said this great thing, that singing isn't about singing in tune, or great technical singing. It's about making people believe in the story you're telling.
I thought, I might not look my best, I've forgotten half the words to my songs and I'm suffering from post-traumatic stress, but I've just got to get out there and do it.
Sometimes, with autobiographies, it turns into a bit of score-settling. And looking back, I don't feel the way I did then, and you kind of grow up and let it go behind you.