My HAVEN SUZI QUATRO

The rock legend, 71, in the TV room of her Elizabethan manor house in Essex

1 MARRIAGE ACROSS THE MILES

My German husband Rainer – this photo was taken on our wedding day in Las Vegas in 1993 – lives in Hamburg, and I live in England. Everyone thinks it’s nuts, but for 28 years we’ve had a successful marriage despite living miles apart. I don’t love lightly, but when I do I’m in for the long run. He doesn’t want to live here fulltime and I don’t want to live in Hamburg. It wasn’t a problem until Covid. But last year we spent five months apart and that’s a long time, even with Skype.

2 LEATHER LOOK

I love my leathers. I’ve got two kinds, my stage leathers, usually jumpsuits, and my street leathers [pictured]. I’ve wanted to be a singer since I was five and saw Elvis on TV. When it came to choosing my ‘look’ in the early 1970s, I told Mickie Most [the record producer] that I wanted leather. He said no but I won out. I’m lucky that I went for a look that still looks good at my age.

3 MINDER AND ME

This is me with Minder star Dennis Waterman when I appeared in an episode of the hit Eighties TV show. I had to kiss Dennis, and I must say he’s a pretty good kisser. I was really disappointed when the director yelled, ‘Cut!’ I’ve appeared in stage shows like Annie Get Your Gun too. But I’ve never lost my American accent and I don’t want to – I’m the girl from Detroit City!

4 MY GREAT GRANDPA

Here I am with my parents, Helen and Art, and my [paternal] Italian Grandpa in 1977 outside my first house in Essex. They were so proud. I remember Grandpa saying in his Italian accent, ‘Oh Suzi, I never expected something like this!’ He emigrated to the US when he was young, and when he arrived someone chopped his name in half so Quattrocchi became Quatro. He was my favourite relative – he was a real gent, always had time for me and lived to 98 – and in every photo of us, I’m either sitting on his lap or at his feet.

5 FOLLOWING MUM’S FOOTSTEPS

I love this picture of my son Richard as a baby. He’s now 37 and plays guitar on my new album recorded in my home studio. I had an emergency caesarean for Laura, my first child, and it was the same with him. He got his first guitar aged eight, but didn’t find his feet as a musician for some time. Eventually he said, ‘Mum, I need to write some songs with you… now!’ We work pretty well together, but feelings can get heated in the studio.

6 PERFECT PRECISION

My dad Art gave me a 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar – which is the Rolls-royce of bass guitars – in 1964, when I was just 14. And I’ve been playing the bass, and singing, ever since. I played this new red Precision bass on my new album, The Devil In Me. My bass guitars are a lot heavier than they look – and remember I’m only 5ft tall. When I gave one to a guy to hold for a minute recently, he gasped, ‘Oh, that’s heavy!’ I thought to myself, ‘You wimp!’