Diane Schuurs

I was determined to succeed in what I loved to do. I wasn’t going to let my disability stand in my way.

Jimmy (Wakely) told me, ‘I don’t want you to sound so much like Dinah Washington.’ So, I thought, ‘How can I get around this?’ And one of the people I really dug was Patti Page. So I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to sound like her.’ I actually did with a couple curly-cues thrown in for effect, but, that’s how I started getting away from the predominant Dinah influence, and getting my own style together.

Frank Sinatra and Stan Getz had been friends of mine, and I wanted to pay tribute to them.

I try to just be grateful for what I have, and not [focus on] the things that I don’t have.

As far back as I can remember, singing was in my blood. My parents loved music, and I loved to sing. I was scatting at an early age.

I wrote “Pilot of My Destiny” because of my love of flying. The fact that my brother is a pilot inspired me to write it. I call him pilot. He calls me copilot.

But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again.

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.

There’s probably not a crew chief out there who hasn’t tried something that seemed like a good idea.

I happen to be lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do as far as a career since I was nine years old.

I like friends who are honest and loyal. They also shouldn’t be afraid to be a kid. I like having fun.

Our recent travels have taken this wild whirlwind of a band though many incredible and inspiring places…. Having just begun work on our new album, we thought we’d take time out to raise a little sand and welcome springtime with one more adventure, another celebration of life and song.

Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet?

I decided I am not going to say things I do not mean anymore.

A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills, no, no. They’d make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while. About comic lines written by Mark Shaiman being removed for innuendo (i.e. Chip ‘n Dale are both strippers”) the week before for his presenting of Best Animated Film at the 77th Academy Awards: “For a while you get mad, then you get over it. They’re afraid of saying Olive Oyl is anorexic. It tells you about the state of humor. It’s strange to think: how afraid are you? We thought that they got the irony of it. I guess not.”

No, I was two years older than the other guys. I was a war baby. My family were a lot poorer than they were. I’d had to fight too hard for anything I had in my life and to smash things up for me.

These critics with the illusions they’ve created about artists – it’s like idol worship. They only like people when they’re on their way up… I cannot be on the way up again.

I have learned a lot about myself and come to deal with a lot of things that, at first, bothered me.

[after naked photos leaked] I want to apologise to my fans, whose support and trust means the world to me. “I am embarrassed over this situation and regret having ever taken these photos. I am thankful for the support of my family and friends.

I’m just a regular girl. Some days I’m super strong; some days I’m super insecure. I just speak my truth and if people like it, they like it, and if they bash it, they bash it.

One failed attempt at a shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings since Columbine and no change in our regulation of guns.