A Quote by Liz Mitchell
I didn't realize I could sing until I served someone tea at a cafe my parents owned in north west London, where we had settled as a family, after moving from Jamaica when I was 11. I was harmonizing to a track on the jukebox and a man asked me how I managed to do it so well. He recommended me to a talent agent.
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The Christmas of 1965 was a Yuletide with a difference at my parents' tiny terrace house in North London: it was the first time my family had been able to see me on television.
I failed my 11-plus and ended up working in a factory after I left school. But then I passed my audition on 'New Faces' and I was on the telly. Suddenly, I was living in London, and sending my parents money that they could never have imagined. It was a massive thing for me; I was a 17-year-old kid who was able to support his family!
Once, I was up north with friends and, after dinner, one lady who was at the table said, 'Would you sing for me?' and I went 'Well, sure.' And the other women are looking and going, 'You never sing for us.' Well, you never ask me.
All of a sudden, I was in charge of my own decisions in the studio, and I didn't have someone to guide me on what I was doing, right or wrong... I wasn't a producer, and I didn't realize until then how important producers were and how much they assisted me in my work. I tried to do what I could, but I had no idea what would be good for the market.
I was at Arsenal as an 11-year-old. I really enjoyed it but I was at school and my dad used to drive me there after work. Sometimes we were in traffic for two hours. They wanted to keep me but I wasn't getting home until nearly 11 P. M. I loved it there but it wasn't right, so I came to West Ham and haven't looked back.
When I was 11 years old, my family had to leave East Germany and begin a new life in West Germany overnight. Until my father could get back into his original profession as a government employee, my parents operated a small laundry business in our little town. I became the laundry delivery boy.
I actually had nuggets and mostly Asian food when I was at the Olympics. But as soon as I got back to Jamaica, or when I was in London, I had a lot of wings. That was the first thing I asked for - "Hey, get me some wings."
I've been in Africa, America, moving around a lot. It's helped me to open up my mind. I was born in Jamaica; I've lived all my life there and got all I could from Jamaica. But I needed to be somewhere else to grow.
It wasnt until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something. Well, I wasnt in there five minutes before she said, OK, honey, you have to go now. I made her so nervous she was about ready to throw up. So I really didnt have an interest in being in the kitchen until after I was married, when I was 18. It didnt take me long to realize that Mama was not going to show up at my house every day and cook.
It wasn't exactly a cattle call. I had an agent, and they were seeing people for the parts, so my agent said, "Here's the script, see if there's anything that speaks to you." And I did, and I called my agent and said, "I think this character Data is kind of interesting," and she said, "Well, okay, I'll get you the appointment with Junie Lowry." I had to read with the casting agent first, 'cause nobody really knew me then. Then after that, I had, I think, six different auditions for the role. And finally it was me [on Star Trek].
As much as my parents were worried about me moving to London at 17, they could see that I was hungry to find my path. And it probably helped that they saw me succeeding at it, slowly but surely.
No one in my family plays music. But since I was very little, I would go around the house singing and dancing. And when I was 8, my parents asked me to get up and sing something at a family meal. I had my eyes closed, singing - la la la la la - and when I opened them, the whole family was crying.
I could not sleep when I got on such a hunt for an idea until I had caught it; ...This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it north, and bounded it south, and bounded it east, and bounded it west.
Today, Jamaica is known because of just one man - Usain Bolt. Not many Indians have managed to reach the finals of track and field events at the Olympics and that says it all.
I had people who were around me, people that I put a lot of trust in that sort of messed me over. So after that I said, only I can look back over my life and say I was responsible for whom I hired. I was responsible for how I managed my money. So I decided I wanted to do it myself. I understood the business of football. And because I can understand the business of football, I decided it's the best decision for me to be an agent. It made the most sense and I think a lot of players are opening their eyes to it as well.
I was born in Iran, my parents are Armenian. We fled from Iran to the Netherlands when I was eight years old. We had a lot of family and friends in Iran, so it was hard to leave, especially for my parents. But we managed to settle well in the Netherlands, after a year in refugee camps. But I understood it was a process.
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