Suzi
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billing.’” Pause for dramatic effect. “And
my husband I’ve been with for the last 25
years now took me to Egypt for the first
time, and we were both on equal billing. It
was the strangest thing. There is so much
we don’t know. But because I’m a true
steered her onto the charts with anthems
like “48 Crash,” “Devil Gate Drive,” and
“Can the Can.” A superstar across the UK,
Europe, and Australia, the first country
she’s hitting this spring on her No Control
tour, which will hopefully boomerang
back to the States this fall. “I mean I am
from Michigan, ya know,” she reiterated.
“I’ve got to get back home.”
But Quatro isn’t merely marking time.
She recently received an honorary
Doctorate from Cambridge’s Anglia
Ruskin University, and followed 2007’s
Unzipped autobiography with her first
novel, The Hurricane. Michigan even
added her to its Rock and Roll Legends
Hall of Fame, and she’s been working
steadily in showbiz for over 50 years now.
But her proudest achievement yet is No
Suzi Quatro, 2019
03•2019
artiste my channels are always open, so
everything comes through. Oh yeah! The
interview! Let’s get on with it!”
Maybe that’s why Father Time has
been so kind to Quatro, 68, featured on the
No Control cover in the same frosted shag
and black leather outfit of her halcyon
heyday, wielding her instrument like some
sovereign phallic symbol, and looking
Elizabeth Bathory youthful. Spooky. She
was born to channel universal rock energy
and kinetic vibes. After seeing her in her
sister Patti’s Go-Go booted band Cradle,
Most introduced her to the hitmaking
team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman,
who had launched bands like Sweet and
8 illinoisentertainer.com march 2019
Control, which began as a collaboration
between her and her son from her first
marriage, Richard Tuckey. Sitting outside
on her London patio, the team utilized
acoustic instruments and an iPad record-
ing app, and quickly came up with an
appropriately anthemic “Don’t Do Me
Wrong.” It didn’t take much longer to
arrive at a whole album’s worth of
mom/son material; It was time to mount a
comeback — even though Quatro never
technically went away. And just having
her back is a sign that — from Indianapolis
to Cairo — everything is right with the
universe.
ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER: It’s weird. You
moved to Britain in ’71. But you never
picked up a British accent.
SUZI QUATRO: I didn’t want it. Just did
not want it. In fact, I’ll tell you a funny lit-
tle anecdote. On the set of Happy Days, and
it was pretty early days, so I think it was
the second or third show, and I was
rehearsing a scene when the director says,
“Uhh, excuse me, Suzi. But could you
come back to Detroit? You sound totally
British, but you probably aren’t even
aware of it.”
And I didn’t think I was sounding British,
but I think he was saying ‘Don’t.’ Don’t
sound like anything other than what I am.
I am American, and I’m proud of it. I like
sounding Midwestern, I’m the girl from
Detroit, and that’s exactly who I am. I
think the Midwest is the nicest part of
America. It’s the most normal; it’s the
most real, it's the most organic. And it’s
got the nicest accent.
IE: Why did all the stars align for you
now, for this new record?
SQ: And the thing about that is, it is a Suzi
Quatro record. Isn’t it something? For