I do really good banana bread. And I make a chocolate cake with fudge icing that's bloody delicious.
Because everyone has love or wants love there are always problems. And if you don't have problems, you're probably leading a boring life.
Working class people vote Tory because they think it makes them look a bit posh.
She used to drive me to clubs for engagements and when I was 16 I got a job presenting a TV show in Newcastle. My mum didn't really like driving, but she carried on. Once I remember we got stuck in a snow storm, but she carried on to get me there in time. She was an amazing, incredible person.
I was happy to carry on without children because I was completely immersed in my work and my career. I only heard the clock ticking in my late 30s, and when my mother Marion died the year I turned 40 it hit me with such a force that we ended up having IVF, which turned out to be unsuccessful.
People compliment me and if I ignore them, it doesn't mean I'm rude. It just means I'm embarrassed.
When all my friends were into punk, I'd be singing versions of soul ballads. I thought, 'Oh my God, I don't want them to know I'm doing this.' But I really enjoyed singing those songs.
I'm a bit of a loose cannon, but it keeps everyone on their toes!
We were working class, but my mother stopped working at the mill when she married my father and he went on to become an electrical engineer and later a draughtsman. So although we were never rich he was bringing in enough money to be able to splash out occasionally.
I've always said that when people start saying, 'Oh my God, why doesn't this woman put down her bagpipes?' then I will. I just don't ever want to become like Cliff Richard.
I was fortunate enough to meet Aretha Franklin but I was so overwhelmed that I just burst out crying.
That's a part of human nature that men and women, women and women, whatever your sexuality, you flirt with each other and it's completely harmless and it doesn't really mean it crosses a line... You can tell where it is.
The Manchester music scene was very male dominated.
I did work incredibly hard but I think there's a certain element of luck.
I think women were just accepted more as songwriters when they sat on a stool with a guitar and had scruffy hair. It was quite insulting really, because it was like saying that if you're pretty and slim and glamorous there's no way anything could be going on between your ears, you just like doing your makeup.
I like to tinkle at my piano when I'm working out a new song - I just put my fingers down and see what comes out.
There was a period in music that didn't suit what I did. I didn't fit in.
When I make an album I love to spend a long time making it and put my heart and soul into it.
You know that something is good but you never really know how good. You always underestimate how much of an impact something is going to have.
The fame thing made me run - it got out of hand and I needed to go away.
