Sophie Ellis-Bextor

In real life, I'm not super-posh but if that's the stereotype, I really don't care. It could be worse.

In terms of influence, my style icons have been a mixture of Julie Andrews and Olivia Newton-John. When I was little I used to watch 'Grease,' 'Mary Poppins' and 'The Sound of Music' a lot. If you put all those things together you do kind of get my outfits. A slightly tarty nanny in a second-hand outfit. That is pretty much what I wear.

I like the influence of the macabre, but I don't believe in ghosts.

Come rain or shine I walk short distances rather than taking my car.

I don't think that old-fashioned idea of record companies exists any more.

It's funny how intimate it feels to get a text.

Writing songs about fancying people in dance clubs is all very well but it's not the be-all and end-all. There are other topics.

I've been DJing a little bit, so you get used to the fact that music sounds brilliant when it's loud.

There's so many singers, you watch them and a lot of it is waving around. You don't get this feeling that they're really thinking about what they're saying.

You need to have a life outside your career.

Trust your instincts: they tend to see you right. By listening to them, at least you can sleep at night.

You learn that, when your children are all right, everything is right in the world.