The 5-minute Interview: Joan Armatrading, Singer, songwriter, guitarist
'I'd never been on a rollercoaster before'
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Your support makes all the difference.Birmingham's Joan Armatrading, 56, has written and recorded 22 albums. She has served as president of the Women of the Year Lunch since 2005.
If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...
At home editing the video that I'm doing. I recorded one of the shows in San Francisco and I'm editing it myself.
A common misperception of me is....
Lots of people think I'm from America but I'm British.
I wish people would take more notice of...
Rubbish. It's so unnecessary. I wish people wouldn't chuck rubbish out of their cars.
A phrase I hear far too often is...
"At the end of the day." I suppose it means at the end of everything, at the final analysis. I find it very irritating.
The most surprising thing that happened to me was...
I'm 56 now and up until about three years ago, I had never been on a rollercoaster. Then when I was last in America I went on the most rickety one. I'd never really had any interest and then I enjoyed it. That was surprising.
I am not a politician but if I were, I would...
Do I have to?
I'm good at...
I'm particularly good at people watching.
I'm very bad at...
Navigation. I get lost very easily. All the time.
The ideal night out is ...
A night in.
In moments of weakness, I...
Give in. It'll be silly stuff like eating the wrong thing. But then I think: who cares?
You know me as a singer but in truer life I'd have been...
Because music is so natural to me and very all-consuming, I can't really imagine doing anything else. Music is so important.
The best age to be is...
The age you are now. Whichever age you are, that's the best age. I'm a very 'now' person.
In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:
Be true to yourself, go for it, and respect others.
Alice-Azania Jarvis
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