Kiki Dee quotes:

I was born Pauline Matthews and grew up in Bradford as one of three children - I had an older brother, David, and an older sister, Betty. My father Fred worked in the mills as a textile weaving supervisor, and my mother, Mary, was a housewife.

We had idyllic summer holidays, building sandcastles with my father on the beach at Bridlington. It might sound strange, but I think that secure cocoon of familial love was so nourishing, it gave me the strength to live life on my own.

It's not so much that I ever declared: 'I will never have children.' I just never found the right man to settle down with, so it didn't happen.

I always enjoyed sport. I was a bit of a wild child, to be honest, and just loved running around.

I realised when I sang at family parties and Christmases I'd suddenly get everyone's attention, and, being the youngest of three, I thought what a brilliant attention-seeking ploy it was.

The first thing Fontana did was get me to change my hair colour from light brown to red, and the songwriter Mitch Murray suggested I change my name from Pauline Matthews to Kiki Dee.

I'm just a sensitive little soul who's put so much into her career that I haven't had enough energy or time left over to sustain a relationship.

My older brother had a lot of Elvis on vinyl, and really, that was my first introduction to music during the Fifties.

I had a cancer scare in the early '90s, and for a few months, I wondered if I would make it.

Dad always encouraged my singing, so when 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' was a hit in the States, I flew my parents to New York first-class to see me, put them up at the Waldorf Astoria, then they sailed home on the QE2.

I was never particularly academic, so it was no great surprise when I failed my 11-plus and consequently went to Wibsey Secondary Modern. I did all right in English, history and music, which were the subjects that most interested me.

I've got my mother's acceptance of things and my dad's drive - not such a bad combination.

Performers like to perform, and there's certainly no disgrace in entertaining people, in giving pleasure, you hope, through your singing. My work defines who I am.

I'm a childless woman, yet I felt no maternal urges whatsoever. The prospect of years of broken nights and nappy changes holds no appeal for me.

This is where I break one last taboo: I'm incredibly glad I'm not a granny.

In my late 30s, I flirted with the idea of having a child without necessarily being in a steady relationship. But I've never had a strong maternal urge, and then I got cancer of the womb - luckily caught at an early stage - so that put paid to that.

When I started out in this business, I really wanted to become iconic, but I'm glad that didn't happen. I like to do things like travel on public transport unnoticed.

I was the youngest of three kids, and from the age of four, singing was my way of getting attention.

I found acting tough; it takes a lot out of you if you have no technique.

I had a cancer scare in the early 90s, and for a few months, I wondered if I would make it.

I have to keep healthy; otherwise, I jeopardise my career.