I absolutely hate Take That, East 17, the Spice Girls.

You put something you like on really loud, and you feel godlike.

I've tended to avoid meeting my heroes. They aren't necessarily the nicest people anyway. The exception was George Harrison, one of the loveliest men I've ever met. He lent me his home studio to make Hormonally Yours.

I love to sing old Motown songs to myself, or some Patti Smith Edith Piaf or Billie Holiday. That gets me in the mood for singing.

I absolutely hate Take That, East 17, the Spice Girls.

I just can't seem to write songs about peace and love. Yeah right, how do you get that?

[Bananarama] were written off from day one. Nobody believed in us but us. We kept having hits despite the record company, despite the press