Rock legend Suzi Quatro reflects on her historic career, her decision to decline an invitation from Elvis Presley, and the realization of her influence on female artists.
So you would imagine that Detroit-born Quatro, who hit the big time when she moved to the UK in the 70s and scored chart-toppers with Can the Can and Devil Gate Drive, jumped at the chance to meet ‘The King’ when he phoned and invited her to Graceland.. But Quatro, who was then 23, turned down Elvis’s invitation.. “Elvis called me in 1974 when I was in Memphis and my version of All Shook Up
was in the charts,” Suzi tells us today.. “One of his people called on the phone and said, ‘we have somebody who wants to speak to you.’ It was Elvis… and I thought I would die ‘cause he’s been my man since I was five-and-a-half.. “And he asked me to come to Graceland and I just decided I wasn’t quite ready yet, it’s as simple as that.. It’s just as easy as that, I wasn’t
ready.. I said no and I’m glad I did because he’s been on my shoulder spiritually since then.. “I’ve got a song about him after he died, it’s got a beautiful video, you can Google it, it’s called Singing with Angels.. I recorded it with James Burton (Elvis guitarist and friend) and The Jordanaires in Nahshville, his original backing group.” Quatro, who also starred in the American TV series Happy Days, recalls a bizarre moment
the day she landed the part of Leather Tuscadero in the show.. She says: “I was waiting in my room for the Happy Days people to phone me to tell me if I got the part or not.. The phone rang and they said, ‘we want you for 15 episodes.’ The TV was on in the room and as I took the phone call at that very moment it said, ‘The King’ is dead.. Elvis
had died.. “This was August 16, 1977, and when I came back to film my first episode in December the producer brought up this man to meet me.. He said, ‘Suzi meet Nudie, he’s going to be making your clothes for the series.. And he was Elvis’s personal tailor.’ “The Elvis connections go on and on.. I believe that none of these things would have happened had I met Elvis, so I didn’t do the
wrong thing because he has been on my shoulder ever since, he has been my spiritual advisor.. I feel him around.” Quatro, who will turn 76 next month, has recently released a new album, Freedom, to rave reviews – “they say it’s my best work” – has noticed a new young following at her live shows in recent years.. “The last time I played Belfast I came out and the first four or five rows
was teenage screaming girls,” Suzi recalls.. “And I turned backwards to see if somebody else had walked out.” One Direction?. “Yes, I was their One Direction,” she laughs.. “But I’ve been getting a lot of younger women at my shows.. I guess they’re discovering me for the first time.. That’s what the internet does or their sister or mother told them about me and they start getting into you.. So there are a lot of
younger people at my shows.” For young women you would be inspirational, the first female to front a rock band.. “I was the prototype,” she agrees.. A woman who takes no nonsense… if you’re starting out trying to find your feet in life as a young kid or teenager you look for your role models?. “Yes, and I met a lot of girls through the years who told me I was their role model.. And
I gave women permission to be different by doing what I did,” Suzi reflects.. “I was the first one to do it, the first female musician, although I don’t do gender… but I was the first one to have success in a rock band playing an instrument.. “That’s my accolade and it belongs to me and I accept it.. But I didn’t know I was doing it.. I had no idea because I was just
being me.” You are iconic.. “Yeah.” The leather outfit, the bass guitar, the rock attitude.. “Yeah, but nobody ever taught me or told me how to act or how to play the bass, how to sing.. It just kind of was me,” she says.. “That’s why I didn’t realise that I was changing things for women because I was really just being who I was.. I guess I was born different that’s all.” Quatro reveals
that it was only when a documentary on her life and career called Suzi Q was released in 2019 that she fully grasped the impact she has made in life and her influence on other artists.. Were you surprised by the number of famous females in rock ‘n’ roll who cited you as their inspiration?. “It knocked me for six,” Suzi tells me.. “I went to the premiere of that in 2019.. I was booked
to do a Q&A after the show.. And I wanted to see my documentary with the audience, so I snuck in to feel the film with the audience, which is nice.. “And all the way through all these different women came on, Debbie Harry (Blondie), Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) , K.T.. Tunstall and more… and if you squeeze it together they all said the same thing: ‘I wouldn’t have done what I did
had Suzi Quatro not done it first.’ “I was 69 when that documentary came out and that is the first time the penny dropped.. I honestly did not know.. I watched that and I was in tears.. “And it was then I realised what I had done because I never thought about it.. If you’re just being who you are you don’t think you’re changing the world, but I did.” Suzi Quatro’s new album, Freedom,
is out now.. She will include Ireland on her next tour.
Suzi Quatro, Elvis Presley, rock music, female musicians, music legend, Happy Days, Freedom album