Top 105 Quotes & Sayings by Mick Hucknall - Page 2

Ageing is something to celebrate. If you can avoid long-term debilitating injury and illness, it's something you have to embrace because the other choice is being dead. So embrace it, grow with it. And that's what I try and do.

You live the life of a gipsy when you are on tour, and that's not ideal for family life.

Composing is what drives me; it's not the pursuit of fame. My songs are like pages in a diary.

Family is so important, I know that.

My dad was one of the reasons I kept Simply Red going so long. I was brought up to stick at things. I was the only songwriter in Simply Red, so I could have toured under my own banner. But I'd developed the name, so I stuck with it.

I'm going to write music that's appropriate to my age. And if younger people want to come along with me, they're welcome to.

It took me years to learn to deal with the realities of fame and success. It's hard work sometimes but clearly the pluses outweigh the negatives.

I think my music ran parallel to a lot of people's lives. We were always chugging along in the background.

There's no such thing as a typical day because I lead a very random life.

What helped a lot was becoming a dad at 47. I can't begin to imagine how I would have coped when I was just starting out with Simply Red. Gabriella and I would have been another one of those divorce statistics.

I've always thought my dad was fantastic and now I'm a dad myself I can see what an incredible sacrifice he made as a man in the 60s - he was there every day for me, cooked my meals and shaped me.

Music was my only outlet as a teenager. I always had the gift of music; I was singing at the age of four.

All the best British groups were inspired by black American music. With The Beatles, it was Motown and the blues. With me, it was a mixture of British styles and the more sophisticated Seventies soul of Barry White and Marvin Gaye.

I'm a songwriter, my love of music has never left me and I literally don't seem to be able to stop writing songs, they keep coming.

In 1998 when I did the album 'Blue,' that was my worst phase.

My dad's generation was stony-faced.

I felt trapped by my success.

I can't vote for Corbyn.

I didn't want to be one of those touring musicians who get to hear about their daughter taking her first steps while they're in New Zealand.

Wine is my passion. I'm not keen on the snobbery or elitism of wine, that's not what it's about - I just really enjoy it.

I thought of Britain as a moderate place. Britain isn't a place of majority madness, we're not like that.

Possessions aren't my raison d'etre.

I'm one of the people that's managed to rise above my class, that's the working- class dream, the whole Lennon-esque, John Osborne kind of thing, you know - jump out - if you get the opportunity to better yourself that's fantastic, and I've done it.

As a teenager you bounce off your mum, they give you guidance.

I would say the worst period of my life was between 1997 and 2000. I was lost, I was all at odds. I needed a family, I guess.

Those who say they're not ambitious are being disingenuous.

Musical recording history is full of multi-racial collaborations and it is this cross-pollination that has created the magic of Ellington, Sinatra and the Beatles. I am merely a part of that tradition.

When I stopped Simply Red the reason was to bring up my daughter Romy. I wanted to be a dad that was around.

Family puts things in perspective.

Once I had a daughter and I had a wife I knew I was going to enter a completely different world that I'd never known before.

Everyone dreams of being in a band because they want to be like the Beatles, but even the Beatles weren't always that happy.

For my profession, you need hair.

I grew up in Denton, east Manchester, and was raised by my late father, Reg, a barber.

For a frontman of a band, good hair is a requisite.

I get great creative pleasure from my work.

I must have been six or seven - standing in front of a full-length mirror with a yardstick, pretending to be John Lennon. In my head, I was always going to be a singer, and The Beatles were probably the first musicians that had a major impact.

I'm really bad with dates and never know what I'm doing from one day to the next.

The last Simply Red album, 'Stay,' was good, but the first three tracks were designed for radio play. They were written to meet people's expectations of Simply Red.

I am grateful I have been blessed with a family that I never imagined I would ever even understand what that is, let alone have my own family.

Maybe Simon Cowell for his effect on music. I call him Slimy Cowpat.

Yes, but the thing is my influences are so rooted in afro-American culture especially that it's quite sad to not enjoy the same success because the influences are so strong from there.

I like red wine because it's more sophisticated, more complex and mature. It's a bit like me, no longer young but not old yet either.

There are too many people writing about whether they just farted or not.

Well, the good news is that there's quite a lot of cynicism about major labels within radio and the press. I think they have been largely disillusioned by the manner in which the record companies have developed music.

Its hard to take in. One of our most talented singer songwriters has left us. RIP George Michael. Such sad, tragic news. 2016 please end.