Quotes from Chris de Burgh

It's tough going out as the opening act of a band especially when you're solo.

My dad had a dream of living in an Irish castle, even when we were in Argentina, and in 1960 he found a place without any heat or running water. We had no money, so it was tough.

I spent a lot of my childhood saying goodbye because I went to boarding school. I didn't resent my parents for sending me there so young as I understood the limitations of the education system in Africa, where we lived at the time.

After university, I set out to see if I could make a career in music. It was a tough journey at first, but by the time I was 23 I'd been signed by A&M Records.

I believe that music is an international language and deserves to be heard all over the world.

Canada was one of the first countries that took an interest in my career. Apart from a freak hit I had in South America, Canadians took my 'Spanish Train' album to heart and have stuck with me ever since. They've been very loyal, and it's been a long and rewarding affair.

I was born in Argentina, and have lived in England, Ireland, Africa and Malta.

I made loads of English and Irish friends at university and all they wanted to do was have a good time.

I've been travelling all my life.

I will never forget seeing Alien when it came out in 1979. I'm not that big a fan of horror, but I remember the slow build, the claustrophobic feeling on the spacecraft, this tremendous sense of impending doom.

I developed my armour at prep school. I was the smallest guy in the school. I got bullied a lot. So I developed broad shoulders.

I know journalists like to think that they are read by people like me, but I don't read them.

When I left university, I didn't want to jump into anything right away. Music certainly wasn't a burning ambition.

When you're a solo artist and you're not doing well, it can be pretty tough. So when success does come, it feels like you've earned it.

You get tarred with the brush of 'Lady in Red.' I play Russia or China or places all over the world. They don't even speak English but they know the words. You get a big song like that, and people love it or hate it. And if they don't like it, they don't like anything at all by the artist.

I've 300 other songs, but 'Lady In Red' is just one of them. Funnily enough, in America, it is massive, but most people wouldn't have a clue who Chris de Burgh was.

In America, if you say 'Chris de Burgh,' they won't have a clue, but they all know 'Lady in Red.'

You know you get a tube of toothpaste... such a bloody con. You squeeze and squeeze and nothing more comes out? Well, take a pair of scissors and cut it about an inch and a half from the bottom and it's absolutely packed with stuff! I do that, then cut off the top bit, so I can stick that back on and it doesn't dry out!

I'm not a great meat eater - I eat it twice a week. But I can't stand fish - my mother says it's because I got a fish bone stuck in my throat when I was little.

I'd been to South Africa during the Seventies, when it was definitely not kosher to go there. I felt that the best thing to do was to be a missionary and tell people what was going on in their own country because censorship was so dreadful.

I remember years ago hearing a top band talking about a song of theirs that was a monster hit and they were really dissing it, saying that they hoped they'd never have to play it again. I thought: 'That's not right. If people love a song, play it.'

I think it's the Canadian spirit that encourages people to dream a little bit.

I'm not a fool with my money. I've known what it's like to be poor and I don't splash it around stupidly.

I love myself. I'm not saying this in a narcissistic way.