Shakin Stevens Quotes

Merry Christmas Everyone’ went from 38 to 10, then 2, and then it hit the top spot, by which time the rereleased Band Aid single was at No 3.

DJs used to mickey-take, have a real poke at Shakin’ Stevens.

I had success in Canada, all through Europe, Poland, Czechoslovakia.

It’s nice to be part of Christmas.

The early Shakin’ Stevens and the Sunsets gigs were wild.

We’ve had Salvationists in the family for more than 150 years.

As you get older, you do try to be a bit wiser.

Mum was absolutely tremendous, a wonderful woman, one in a million.

Call me Shaky, not Michael. I’ve been Shaky for so long it would be like calling Muddy Waters McKinley, wouldn’t it?

Look at Kylie. She’s changed and adapted but still kept her fans. That’s what I want to do.

My fans go right across the board. They come to my concerts in family groups.

When I started we were travelling in vans, at that time we couldn’t afford B&Bs, so after the gig the band would all climb in the back of the van with our fish and chips and then wake up in the morning – six sweaty musicians, all the gear around us, and you’d think ‘oh god.’

I was a guy who was born in Cardiff and thought, there must be more to my history than that.

I love the Wilburys, but what made them special was the make-up of the band.

I mean, I didn’t know that my dad was married before he met my mum. He was married for a year and he had a son. Even when I was grown up, that secret was still not let out.

People have got a preconceived idea of what I look like, what I perform and what my shows are all about. I can understand that, because all they can refer to is ‘Top Of The Pops.’ But those who come to my shows know better.

I’ve been asked that question lots of time before, why wasn’t I on Live Aid? And quite frankly I don’t know. I was riding high in the charts and the styles of music they had were quite varied from Adam Ant to Status Quo to Queen. I would have definitely fitted in.

I always used to sing in the house and I went to school at Hywel Dda Primary School in Ely. I think they had a puppet-type show there and word got around I could sing. I sang at that puppet performance and used to sing in school. From there, it was in my blood. I didn’t want to do anything else but sing.

I’ve been using slide guitar, banjo, stuff like that for yonks. But if people haven’t seen me live on stage, they wouldn’t have heard me with these instruments.

My older brothers would scour the railway tracks for lumps of fallen coal to keep us warm and we’d sleep, top to tail, three to a bed. So we were seriously poor in every way except for one. We were rich in love.

I was a 17-year overnight success really. I think I earned it.

I don’t think I look like him at all. There is only one Elvis and there Is only one Shakin’ Stevens and I’m getting sick of people asking me that.

I was in several bands, and we just started off doing the clubs and dancehalls in the valleys – and eventually moved on to the colleges and universities.

I’m sure I’m not the only artist to flinch remembering some of the tacky merchandise sold at gigs – flags, pillowcases – which I’d only seen for the first time when they were already on sale in the foyer.

In Australia and New Zealand I had big, big success.

All families have lies and secrets, I don’t mind sharing ours.

I have done big festivals all over Europe with hip hops acts and everything else.

I’ve jumped off pianos, I stopped climbing up curtains when the screws popped once and I fell to the floor like a Looney Tunes cartoon character, and ended up off for six months because of a broken ankle.

I did feel a bit of an outsider in the Eighties. But there was a market for me out there. New Romantics were totally different.

Life is never a bed of roses, but it’s not all doom and gloom either.

I had a heart attack and it was touch and go. I was in intensive care, my body was frozen. I had an ice cap and had to get a pacemaker. I was in hospital for nearly two months.

I still love being on the road. I’ve been doing it since I left school. It’s in my blood, it’s in my bones.

I used to go to Caerphilly with my brother Les, two years older than me, with my mother to see her sister, Gladys. When they wanted to talk we’d have to leave the room. She’d say to her husband Stan ‘take them in the front room and play the piano.’

Freedom is not a God-given right, we have to earn it.

With the Echoes tour there was quite a lot of people who came to the shows that were attracted by the music and the sentiment on the album.

I feel like I’m a skittle. If I’m knocked down, I’ll get up and try again.

As for Glastonbury, it’s the biggest festival there is in Britain, and I’m very pleased to be asked to do it.

I always thought it would be nice to have a Christmas number one. If nobody remembers you for the rest of the year, they’ll remember you at Christmas.

To this day, I don’t know how our mum managed to put enough food on the table.

My health had always been pretty good.