My lifestyle and this very precocious nature was blown out of all proportion. But the media created a lot more than I could give. I was prepared to live with it, and it was up to me to make sure I had one foot firmly on the ground. I feel I have. It’s strategy. One has to use it to one’s best advantage.

Darling, if everything you read in the press about me was true then I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today, because I would be so worried about my ego. Actually, if it was all accurate, I would have burnt myself out by now. I really would have.

But you do appreciate the mystique which has developed around you?

I think I need it. I like all that. It’s my character. Certainly I’m a flamboyant person. I like to live life. I certainly work hard for it, and I want to have a good time. Don’t deny me that. It might not come again and I want to enjoy myself a little.

Interview by Tony Stewart
NME 1977

Picture by Peter Mazell