Top 50 Katie Melua Quotes

When the lights did come on in Georgia and the electricity did come on – you know, ’cause they did for about one hour during the day – we would watch Hollywood films and we’d listen to music from America and the West.

I moved schools seven or eight times, but I never thought of it as a problem. I didn’t become attached to people.

The thing about doing gigs is you make music, and then it is gone and that is being watched by thousands of people.

When I wasn’t touring I’d be really down, then suddenly after a few weeks of crazy travelling – America, a double headline with Ray Davies in Denmark, TV shows here and just partying… Suddenly I had an acute psychotic breakdown.

I love fruit. One of my earliest memories is climbing trees for figs, and I once got stuck in one when I was six. I could see the biggest, juiciest fig and I climbed up and got it and ate it right there, sitting on a branch. Then I realised I couldn’t get down.

At 15, I did a ouija board with my best friend. I pretended I was possessed by a ghost, and she believed it.

Throughout my 20s it was all about achieving and working as hard as possible. To the point that you don’t think twice about working in a music studio with no windows from 11 to 11. And you don’t bat an eyelid if you fly four times a week and do promo in a different city each time.

My father has been an inspiration – he instilled his work ethic without ever having to hammer it home. He was also very encouraging.

I may be developing aerophobia as I get older, or maybe I’m just becoming middle aged, because I find flying an increasingly unpleasant way of travelling. I would much rather drive than fly.

I started writing and recording, at a very basic level, just in my own bedroom.

Everybody in Georgia is musical, but I was slightly obsessed.

Granddad was deported to a Siberian prison camp at the age of 15.

I grew up in Georgia where my parents, little brother Zurab and I shared a flat with my paternal grandparents and two uncles in the capital, Tbilisi. Times were hard and the country was racked by civil war.

When I do my own makeup, I limit my options: I have one Mac eye colour, a neutral shade with a bit of shimmer, plus eyeliner and subtle mascara. I wear a little foundation and put Laura Mercier concealer around my nose, underneath my eyes and on any dark spots.

I’d love to do a food tour of Italy but the next break I’ll be having is skiing with my dad in Georgia. He’s 58 and only just started skiing, so I’m looking forward to joining him on the slopes.

I wouldn’t really call myself a Jazz singer I think it’s offending to real Jazz singers to call me a Jazz singer.

The Georgians will treat you like royalty, and the odds are you’ll do a lot of eating, drinking and toasting.

I’d also like to explore more of Georgia, my home country, because one day I really want to make an album that is written in the Georgian language.

Of course, I like to keep my private life, private.

I did go through a phase of reading a lot of poetry and getting heavily into philosophy and ended up writing things that weren’t really in a musical format, which I put to some very electronic-based backing.

To be healthy is, for me, linked in with feeling happy about yourself.

The first dramatic experience I had of music was when I was five. The electricity had gone out in Georgia, and my mum played the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano.

I’m the worst customer for a credit card company because I always pay my balance off every month.

I don’t mind doing publicity but I want to make sure it’s the right type and it’s about promoting my music and not me.

To have been able to buy my parents a house in London is something no one can imagine.

What I’ve picked up from working with the women in the Gori choir is that they don’t have egos. All that matters is the music.

When I was younger I dreamt of intrepid travel and whenever I had some time off I wanted to scuba dive. Nowadays I’m a bit more relaxed but I’d still like to do an Amazonian trek.

Well, I couldn’t speak English before I went to Belfast. So I learned English with a Northern Irish accent.

I mean Georgia, and also Belfast, aren’t the most stable places, politically, in the world. But the thing is, in both places, the people were just so kind and so warm and in Belfast so welcoming.

But I’ll never forget my trip to Las Vegas. I’m a huge rollercoaster fan and we did the one at the Stratosphere, which curls around the hotel, and there’s one that dips out from the roof then comes back in. That was intense.

There are all these tests that are done on young kids and they all say they want to be famous but I just always felt that for my generation being famous was kind of corny and cheesy. Maybe because fame isn’t something that proves you’re good at something.

I love winter. It’s a beautiful time, but also a melancholic time, a reflective time, and I’d come to a point in my life where I felt I had to make certain decisions about my career.

I would advise everyone to have a travel drawer. Mine contains adaptors, ear plugs, blow-up pillows for the plane, travel health books, disposable cameras, a first aid kit and torches.

I used to watch ‘Aliens’, and I just found Sigourney Weaver’s character so empowering.

When I’m working, I’ll often be upgraded to a suite though I don’t ask for preferential treatment. I’ll be there with a tour manager, my band and various promotions people and the hotel will offer to upgrade one of us; luckily, it’s usually me.

I love the French philosophy that everything starts with great-looking skin.

Most people in Georgia have a place in the hills for when it gets too hot in the city. We have good friends who own a place by a beautiful little river and the houses are full of hammocks.

But I do think I’m quite a selfish performer in the sense that I’m not one of those that’s like ‘Hey, come on everybody lets sing along’ you know that kind of thing.

I know I’ve been lucky, but I’m not very materialistic – I don’t believe in collecting many unnecessary things and I’m not into girlie shopping.

Norway, for some reason, I find Norway really fascinating, you really feel nature in that country. And then there is somewhere like Japan, which is the most interesting culturally because their whole psychology, how they think is so different to us and how I’ve grown up.

At 19 I was lucky enough to start making money from my music career, and when I was in my early twenties I trusted financial experts and advisers to guide me with how I invested money.

And I’ve teamed up with a choir from home. They’re called the Gori Women’s Choir. They’re a 23-piece all-female choir, and they’ve been going since the ’70s.

My father longed for a better life for us, and when I was nine he got a job as a heart surgeon in Belfast. It was very bittersweet when we said goodbye to our relatives, and I remember crying my eyes out at the airport.

It started in Georgia. Everyone sings there. I mean, it’s all they do. So at eight, I heard a lot of Georgian singing, which is often really complicated, with seven- or eight-part harmonies.

When the Soviet Union broke down, Georgia suffered a huge deal. Pretty much the whole of the 90’s was known as ‘the black decade… because we had a lot of electricity blackouts.

My mother is caring and selfless, and really looks after me. When I’m touring, she still picks me up from the airport, no matter what time it is.

I wolf food down like you’ve never seen. For some reason, I have no self-control when it comes to the pace of eating.

I love a classic, white silk shirt with dark trousers or jeans or a dark, knee-length skirt: timeless clothes that are not too fussy always work.

I have spent a long time being asked questions in interviews, so I’ve experienced it on the other side but I’m really not afraid to ask any question myself.

I don’t cook very often but when I do I try and make Georgian food. I made a hinkali recently, which is like ravioli but is the size of your palm, with meat in the middle and thicker dough.