BABY, SHE LOVES YOU

What music are you currently grooving to? My new album [English Heart], ha ha! I like Bruno Mars and I still like The Ramones. But I make music more then listen to it now. Back then, me and my cousin Nedra would go down to the jukebox and listen to Rip It Up by Little Richard. When I’m in the car I like a little Bruno Mars, I just love his voice. Sam Smith I like. And I still listen to the serious soul stations in my car, going shopping!

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? Frankie Lymon At The London Palladium. Playing there with The Ronettes blew my mind, because Frankie Lymon was my whole inspiration. Why Do Fools Fall In Love, I was in love with this. I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, that voice, it pierced me! That’s the record that made me wanna sing.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? Why Do Fools Fall In Love, the single. From a record store in my neighbourhood in Spanish Harlem. Every record he made, I bought.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? No one. I always wanted to be me, I love me! Amy Winehouse wanted to be like me, too!

What do you sing in the shower? I don’t, never even at home in a bubble bath or walking round the house, doing the dishes, I never sing. I only sing my own songs with my band.

What is your favourite Saturday night record? I’m working then! So I do that with my audience. Performing, I love that!

And your Sunday morning record? I like Billy Stewart, The Commodores’ Easy. So smooth and calming. And a couple of Marvin Gaye songs, Billy Joel. I’ll be easing out in my PJs.

Ronnie Spector’s English Heart is out now. She plays London’s Shepherds Bush Empire on May 15.