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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Imelda May Quotes

I don’t see why women have to get naked to sell an album. It’s crazy.

– Imelda May

I got my first leopard print coat when I was 15. I nearly got beat up, but I was happy with it.

– Imelda May

I can talk a lot and not reveal anything; I would make a great politician.

– Imelda May

I went to a Catholic all-girls school, and we would play cassettes of music we liked, and when it was my turn, they would laugh at my choices. I would play Billie Holliday, Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf, but it was fine; if I had to listen to their choices, they had to listen to mine.

– Imelda May

I have no big career plan. It is better for me that way.

– Imelda May

American audiences are great. They get what I am doing, but as my band will tell you, nowhere tops the Irish audience. They are just brilliant. They are very open, but the Americans and Spanish come a close second.

– Imelda May

My parents never told me to get a real job. They always said, ‘Go for it! If this is what you want to do, work hard.’ They were always very supportive.

– Imelda May

Everybody told me that if I insisted on doing rockabilly music, I’d never have a chance of selling any records. In fact, I lost count of how many people told me to ditch it all together, in favour, I guess, of sounding like everybody else.

– Imelda May

In a way, I’m lucky that I was never classically trained and never went to a music college. I’m just from a normal working class family and happened to get obsessed with music as a teenager.

– Imelda May

If you ask me, rockabilly has had a raw deal for far too long. People never shunned the blues or jazz the way they do rockabilly. But it’s the original punk-rock, and it changed the way people looked at music for ever.

– Imelda May

I’m on the road earning my money. I didn’t get any million pound record deals. Not unless you’re Jedward! I’m doing very well, but I still have a mortgage to pay off. So I’m on the road.

– Imelda May

I tried to be a goth for a while. I’d pour baby powder on my face and paint my lips black, but that didn’t last long. I thought I looked cool at the time. But then you look back and wonder, ‘Why did anyone let me out of the house looking like that?’

– Imelda May

I’m a big believer in ‘pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again.’

– Imelda May

I’m not a feminist that hates men by any means.

– Imelda May

In my head, I consider ‘No Turning Back’ my ‘dipping the toe in the water’ album. It was mostly covers of favorite songs, and there were three originals in there. So, it feels like it was just my album to see what the temperature of the water was.

– Imelda May

I was from a tough neighborhood, and we didn’t have a lot of money, but my dad worked hard, and my mom is good at budgeting things. That made me appreciate things.

– Imelda May

I started gigging when I was about 16, and I was way too young to be in the clubs.

– Imelda May

I’m sorry, but Juicy Couture tracksuits and Ugg boots don’t move me in any way, shape or form. I refuse to wear them. Modern fashion doesn’t appeal to me; the 1950s were better in every way, don’t you think?

– Imelda May

One thing that did get me into a lot of different types of music was when I was very young, the local record store went out of business and they were selling off all the vinyl. I remember going in – I was probably 16 or 17 and I’d just gotten a record player as a present. It was like hitting the jackpot: all these records for $3 apiece.

– Imelda May

When I heard Elvis and his ‘Sun Sessions,’ I went mad for it. I was about thirteen.

– Imelda May

I’d watch old movies with Judy Garland, Shirley Temple and Bette Davis and long to be part of that glamorous world. A lot of that glamour is gone now. In my own small way, I hope I’m bringing some of it back. But it would be great if I could inspire women to dress up.

– Imelda May

There have never been so many women in the music industry, but they’re doing ballads and pop. Where’s the new Joan Jetts and the Wanda Jacksons and the Debbie Harrys, all these strong women? I wanna be the woman that rocks.

– Imelda May

When I tell people that I lost my baby weight through breastfeeding, they think I’m exaggerating. But it was brilliant for that. It is great for bonding with your baby. It is hard when no one else can feed her, but it was worth it for me. I loved it.

– Imelda May

When I was a teenager, I had a record company after me. They wanted me to be a pop act. They said they wanted me to be the next Sonia. I was 16 at the time. I said, ‘No thank you.’

– Imelda May

I got a great kick being in the Warner Bros. studios – that was really cool. I kept singing the ‘Looney Tunes’ theme song all day. I’m sure they haven’t heard that one before.

– Imelda May

I couldn’t live on the singing at first, so I worked as a cleaner, in a launderette, in a garage, face painting and doing the windows of shops at Christmas, ’cause I had been to art college.

– Imelda May

I don’t think the music that I do is nostalgic in any way; I don’t think about going back to nice, old-fashioned music. I’m certainly influenced by old music, but I want to bring it slap-bang up to today.

– Imelda May

I’m the youngest of five – three girls and two boys. There was one record player for the seven of us. It was good for me, because I got to hear everyone else’s music.

– Imelda May

Ooooh, I love Nashville! It seems like everywhere you walk, there’s great music coming out of every wall.

– Imelda May

I love festivals in that people seem to let their hair down more. I love that people run from stage to stage. I love going as a performer because you get to see band that you wouldn’t necessarily go see.

– Imelda May

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