Suzi … The Girl from Detroit City

The name ‘Quattrochi’ is Italian; its origins in Calabria and Sicily. The ‘quattro’ means ‘four’ and the ‘occhi’ means ‘eyes’.

It was the nickname for someone who had glasses or conversely for someone who was ‘diligent’ or ‘shrewd’ and when you get the chance to talk to Suzi Q, as I did recently, you can’t help thinking this is a perfectly suited name for the lady herself.

As the first female of rock Suzi Q has had to be very diligent in paving the way for the female rock stars who followed, not that Suzi ever considered herself a ‘female’ rock star.

She is a simply a ‘rock star’ full stop.

Suzi tells me that gender never occurred to her as impacting on what she wanted to do which was, as a little girl, a desire to be Elvis!

Elvis’s influence can be seen not only in her music but in her role on Happy Days as the supremely cool, leather clad ‘leather Tuscedero’ growing up in a family of 4 strong girls and one boy. The girls’ independence and attitude was supported by their parents.

It will be the 4th or 5th time Suzi has toured Tasmania and this year will mark her 30th and final tour of Australia. But for someone who derives real happiness from performing don’t expect it is the last we will see of Suzi as she still has lots of projects in view and says: Watch this space!

Suzi says she is ‘ true to herself’ in all she does and emphatically says ‘I am an artist’ and so in conjunction with this tour Suzi will be showcasing some of her other artistic talents including a follow up to her autobiography ‘Unzipped’ …

This time it’s a poetry book that both expands on her biography and shows her wizardry with words.

Suzi doesn’t ignore the musical component of the celebration with a special 4CD boxed set titled ‘The Girl from Detroit City’ also released in conjunction with the tour.

Suzi will perform at the Wrest Point Casino on Wednesday 4 March.
Paula Xiberras