Kiki Dee

I have to keep healthy; otherwise, I jeopardise my career.

I look back and wonder why I wasted my time talking about fried potatoes with the great John Lennon. But that's what was so fabulous about him - he was very down to earth.

I was the youngest of three kids, and from the age of four, singing was my way of getting attention.

I realised when I sang at family parties and Christmases I'd suddenly get everyone's attention, and, being the youngest of three, I thought what a brilliant attention-seeking ploy it was.

Being the youngest, I was a bit of a daddy's girl and sought attention from an early age by singing. I don't know where I got my voice, but ours was always a musical house.

I found acting tough; it takes a lot out of you if you have no technique.

In my late 30s, I flirted with the idea of having a child without necessarily being in a steady relationship. But I've never had a strong maternal urge, and then I got cancer of the womb - luckily caught at an early stage - so that put paid to that.

I'm just a sensitive little soul who's put so much into her career that I haven't had enough energy or time left over to sustain a relationship.

We had idyllic summer holidays, building sandcastles with my father on the beach at Bridlington. It might sound strange, but I think that secure cocoon of familial love was so nourishing, it gave me the strength to live life on my own.

When I started out in this business, I really wanted to become iconic, but I'm glad that didn't happen. I like to do things like travel on public transport unnoticed.

Performers like to perform, and there's certainly no disgrace in entertaining people, in giving pleasure, you hope, through your singing. My work defines who I am.

I always enjoyed sport. I was a bit of a wild child, to be honest, and just loved running around.