She used to drive me to clubs for engagements and when I was 16 I got a job presenting a TV show in Newcastle. My mum didn't really like driving, but she carried on. Once I remember we got stuck in a snow storm, but she carried on to get me there in time. She was an amazing, incredible person.
I was happy to carry on without children because I was completely immersed in my work and my career. I only heard the clock ticking in my late 30s, and when my mother Marion died the year I turned 40 it hit me with such a force that we ended up having IVF, which turned out to be unsuccessful.
I think women were just accepted more as songwriters when they sat on a stool with a guitar and had scruffy hair. It was quite insulting really, because it was like saying that if you're pretty and slim and glamorous there's no way anything could be going on between your ears, you just like doing your makeup.