PATTI SCIALFA

When I was younger, I'd go to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and watch this beautiful clip of Billie Holiday playing with a bassist, a pianist and Gerry Mulligan, who was a friend of mine, on baritone sax. At one point, she looks over at Gerry, and they just smile. When those moments happen, it's just lovely.

I did feel funny about being fair and having red hair and freckles. I did not like that because I grew up in a neighbourhood where no one had red hair. I felt very conspicuous but not in a nice way.

You know how you get close to something you want and then you start doing things to ensure that you don't quite get it? I did a lot of that.

When I write songs I write for myself...I'm writing it as a form of expression, and hoping to find an audience, an audience that responds to music that is honest and lyrical and tells stories.

I've been writing and making my own music for a long time.

You come to the city, and you have a chance to find out who you really are.

I loved a lot of different kinds of music, but for my own thing, I went for the singer-songwriters.

There was such a lack of modern, recognizable role models for a young girl in the 1950s. I mean, 'Leave It to Beaver' didn't speak to me. That's why I latched on to music.

You drive past your old high school, and even if everybody treated you terribly, you still go take a look, don't you?

My real priorities were my family - my kids and Bruce - and my work with the E Street Band.

I've been writing and making my own music for a long time.

I loved a lot of different kinds of music, but for my own thing, I went for the singer-songwriters.

I grew up in an era where you had to find your own way as a woman. When I was a kid, there was this whole physical and emotional neatness and purity that a woman was supposed to have, and I didn't fit into that.

You drive past your old high school, and even if everybody treated you terribly, you still go take a look, don't you?

People were a little leery when I was doing the press for my last album 'Rumble Doll,' yes. It's always that thing that this is a dilettante or a pet project.

Forget the press - just being a partner of somebody who's very, very famous, it's hard to keep your center and your personality intact.

When I was younger, I'd go to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York and watch this beautiful clip of Billie Holiday playing with a bassist, a pianist and Gerry Mulligan, who was a friend of mine, on baritone sax. At one point, she looks over at Gerry, and they just smile. When those moments happen, it's just lovely.

For writing, I get up early in the morning - 5 o'clock, 4:30. I'm a morning person... So I try to do it while people are asleep. The mornings are the nicest.

You come to the city, and you have a chance to find out who you really are.

I was always friends with a lot of guys, maybe because their girlfriends were girly-girls, and they felt safe with me.

I like writing a body of music that has a cohesive, emotional thread through it.

There was such a lack of modern, recognizable role models for a young girl in the 1950s. I mean, 'Leave It to Beaver' didn't speak to me. That's why I latched on to music.

I like having the space of my own project.

My real priorities were my family - my kids and Bruce - and my work with the E Street Band.

We always make a hot breakfast for the kids: oatmeal, pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, the whole deal. We like to have that time in the morning together as a family.

All my kids play guitar, sing, and dabble with writing.

I don't really sell many records.

I did feel funny about being fair and having red hair and freckles. I did not like that because I grew up in a neighbourhood where no one had red hair. I felt very conspicuous but not in a nice way.

You know how you get close to something you want and then you start doing things to ensure that you don't quite get it? I did a lot of that.

With any long-term relationship, you have good days and bad days.

When you're married to someone famous, people know you, but they're not really seeing you.

When I write songs I write for myself...I'm writing it as a form of expression, and hoping to find an audience, an audience that responds to music that is honest and lyrical and tells stories.