Suzi Quatro is a woman in demand.
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"I'm in England finishing the documentary tour, then I have one day off and then I'm flying to Australia," she tells Weekender in that famously husky, mile-a-minute voice.
"I've haven't been this busy since the '70s. It's amazing. Everything just took off at the same time, but I'm not complaining. I'm a lucky girl."
Quatro is a singer, songwriter, musician, actor and radio personality. She released studio album No Control earlier this year, with 11 new songs and two bonus tracks. She is travelling the world as part of her It's Only Rock 'N' Roll tour, belting out hits like Can The Can, 48 Crash, If You Can't Give Me Love, She's In Love With You and Devil Gate Drive. And now she is the subject of career-spanning documentary Suzi Q, directed by Liam Firmager, which premiered at the Melbourne Film Festival in August and is due to be released in cinemas this month.
"It's very strange to watch your life on the big screen," Quatro says.
"At the first London screening, I snuck in just to watch the audience. I just wanted to see how they reacted.
"There were times in the film that I wanted to cringe and leave, which is good because I wanted this documentary to be 100 per cent real. I wanted to set the record straight. I wanted to tell my story, warts and all."
She laughs at a memory.
"I wanted to add something to the film but Liam wouldn't let me. Debbie Harry is a very good friend of mine, I've known her for a long time, and when she says on the film "She's so beautiful" I wanted my voice to come on and say 'Oh f - - k off Debbie. I thought it would be very funny."
Quatro prides herself on her honesty. So, when asked if she had an inkling - as a teenager in a band - that fame might come her way she is refreshingly candid.
"I did and I didn't. But I swear to God, any person who has gotten to the heights I've gotten to, if they don't say what I'm about to say then I say they're lying," she explains.
"When you have that little gene in you, for want of a better word let's call it charisma or the "x" factor, you know it from day one. You know it when you're very young. I always knew that I would entertain.
"We would do family shows all the time when I was young where we would get up and do a sketch and when it came to my turn, I could see that everybody was stopping and staring. I realised then that I could hold an audience.
"I knew my path early on. It chooses you. It's fate."
Quatro's star power ended up alienating her from her family, to varying degrees. It's something that hurts her to this day and forever tarnished her definition - and experience - of success.
"From the start, I told Liam that even if i'm uncomfortable with something, if it happened and if it is true, then it stays in the film. One thing that made me uncomfortable was realising I am still hurting over the non-validation from my family," she says.
"Like I say on the film, you want validation from the ones you love the most. That's just human nature. You want to share the joy otherwise it's easy to forget the applause.
"My sister hates the word jealousy and we have had that out many times. She is OK with the word resentment. She says to me 'Yes, I wanted what you had', which is fair enough. It must have been hard for her when her little sister was picked out from day one and not her.
"But after 50 years I am still hurting and it's crazy. I need to get it out of my system. What's helping me now to grow up, for want of a better phrase, is seeing it on the big screen. I need to let it go. I've hurt long enough over it."
She's not lacking in validation when it comes to her millions of adoring fans, though. Quatro laughs when it is suggested that they "more than make up" for the family's lack of interest.
"Oh Christ. I have said before I tried so hard to make my voice heard in the family and I never stopped making up for it everywhere else," she says.
"I have to say that I feel the warmth and the love when I go on that stage, whether it's for the documentary or a show, and I just feel so blessed that I have that.
"And I don't take it lightly. I will always, always, give 100 per cent at a show. You won't catch me doing anything else. I am an old-fashioned performer that way, like my Dad taught me years and years ago: 'If it's 10 people or 10,000, they've paid their dollar to see you. That's money they earned, they spent it on you and you give them everything you've got'.
Australia is like my second home. I always say we have a love affair with one another that's been going on for many years, but that we should never get married.
- Suzi Quatro
"He said it to all of us but I felt that he was only talking to me."
Positive reactions to the documentary, which Quatro says is because it's "honest and open and raw", means that a movie is now in the works. A biopic - you know, like Queen's and Elton John's.
"Yep, we are doing a movie next. I just signed the contract two weeks ago," Quatro says.
"I'm starting to put my ideas together already and will continue doing so while I'm in Australia because, obviously, I am going to be in charge. I am not going to give my story to just anybody."
Finally, what is it about Quatro and Aussies? What's the secret to her success Down Under? She reckons she and her bass guitar have toured here "about 37 times" now.
"Australia is like my second home. I always say we have a love affair with one another that's been going on for many years, but that we should never get married," she says, laughing.
"Look, I don't know what it is but there is a synergy between us. Maybe it's my no-nonsense attitude and Australians are very much like that. They're straight-forward people, like me."