Quotes from Judith Durham

I used to worry a lot and regret a lot before I took on this whole concept of karma. But now I understand that destiny is what it's all about. I still push ahead and look forward to achieving certain goals but I try not to lay up expectations that they have to happen.

Mum prayed to the Lord that when her children were born they wouldn't be tone deaf. Mum says at two years old I was singing my own little songs, she didn't know where I'd heard it so I must have made it up. I used to sing along with the radio.

I suffer from bronchiectasis, an obstructive lung disease, and have a little osteoporosis, too.

I am quite healthy and very careful about my diet. I take a vitamin B complex, a vitamin C supplement, iron and hemp oil - which is a good source of omega 3 - every day. I don't eat meat, fish or eggs, or anything that's too starchy.

Never did I dream that while I was feeling so self-conscious and inadequate in the '60s, I was actually creating The Judith Durham Look!

Generosity of spirit is worthwhile. I've had many requests over the years to attend things, to sing somewhere. I try not to turn things down if I don't have to. The easiest thing is to say you can't manage it, but often it's more rewarding to agree to do something for someone.

I lost the power to write and I had to sort of relearn how to read and write to a certain extent and speak fluently.

One of the reasons we had our reunion tours in the '90s was the unexpectedness of how the music had gone, that these songs we'd recorded should have somehow become timeless classics.

I was shy. But when I sang I felt really empowered.

I have always believed people can sing themselves, even if they can't sing well, into a place of joy and happiness.

We wanted to be ourselves, to sing and speak with our own accent and it was fantastic that we were not asked to change.

It's just as well I can sing as I couldn't do a factory job with all these physical limitations.

I met musician Ken Farmer in Lorne and he lent me all of his Bessie Smith blues LPs. That's when I started to sing.

My role models came in my imagination, from what I'd heard on the radio or on record... Vera Lynn I loved, but I'd only ever heard her on the radio. Gospel singers, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson. So it was in my head that I visualised the emotion but no way to see how people do it.

When i was younger I was much more self focussed. I was worried about my self-image. I thought I was too fat. I was very critical of myself, and then I met and got to know and understand my husband. He helped me turn myself around. He had such a positive attitude towards life.

No longer do I have these terrible complexes I had when I was younger, and I am able to enjoy what life's offering me.

Everyone who reaches a milestone birthday in their lives has an opportunity to truly appreciate the fact that presumably we have acquired all the gifts that maturity and age can bring us.

I knew exactly what to do in The Seekers but I didn't know what it would be like to be a solo artist.

It's a terrific responsibility trying to look right. There is so much to think about - clothes, makeup, hair. You have to look right for your fans.

As it turns out, I can see I'm quite a business-minded person as I've developed.

When you, like if you sing a song and it gets into your brain that it becomes, it repeats and repeats like an affirmation so I find that quite empowering and quite important to keep my positive attitude to life.

It is true that back in the '60s I was quite frustrated that I never got a chance to speak or be interviewed.

I'm moved by what I hear about the power of music.

It doesn't matter what it is you're doing, my motto is: the joy is in the doing.