I'm not worried about wrinkles on my cheeks, or going grey. I'm not trying to be 20.
Keren Woodward
We've always been do-it-yourself. In that we've had complete control.
The perfect pop song is about creating a memory.
I might have been told to put a comb through my hair once or twice - by my mother!
If people want to compare us to the Shangri-Las, then that's all well and good. But those groups were put together. They were told what to sing, dressed up, neatly packaged. We're like the '80s version in that we're more outgoing, more involved in it.
If I look back on my life, you can almost tell the story of it through pop songs. Romances as a teenager, your first kiss, first love, first heartbreak.
Pop music is a constant reminder of what you were doing at the time, it holds all sorts of memories.
We've sung to prerecorded tracks and things like that, but we've never done a proper world tour with a band and everything.
The group has always been based on friendship and a certain attitude.
The amount of women we've met that say that we were an inspiration to them growing up, has always been one of the best things about being in the band.
We were expected to smile and be flirty to everyone. But we acted more like a male rock band. We never mastered the niceties. We were more interested in having a good time.
When you've known someone for so long you never lose that friendship.
We want people to enjoy our music.
We have never wrapped ourselves up in our own world thinking we are the only people who know what is doing. We listen to other things and see what we would like and what would suit us.
We never came into the business with a plan beyond the next three months. It's all been a natural thing for us to go off and travel and then maybe record an album.
My dad was fine, but I have to say my mum was upset when I said I was leaving home.
We had no money, and we had to go through 'punk' school. We ended up living in the rehearsal room that used to be the Sex Pistols rehearsal room at Malcolm McLaren's office. So we had this sort of interesting beginning.
Radio in the U.K. is so formulaic. You've got commercial stations who play the same 20 songs all day.
After a few years, we realized that you did have to put some work into it. That's why the bimbo comments make me angry. After seven years, people have to realize we have a certain amount of talent.
It's really odd, but whatever we do and whatever style we might tackle, we always sound like us.
We had to pose with towels wrapped around us, holding rubber rings, that sort of thing. The turning point came when a photographer asked us to get on a fur rug and crawl like cats. We said no, because it was sexist and disrespectful.
We've never been good at long-term plans.
I don't know how to write or to be anything other than Bananarama-ish because that's who we are.
We're best at doing pop music - we're not good at doing down, depressing music.
I was very aware as a young mum that I had to be there and not go off the rails. I would go clubbing, then come home and make breakfast for the baby.
I'm actually quite proud of the fact that we made a success of ourselves in a donkey jacket and DMs, without any thought to sexualising what we were doing.
I'd hate to be too grown-up. That would be dull.
That's what friendships are, isn't it? You don't all have to be the same, as long as you've all got the same sense of humor and same attitudes on life.
There is nothing worse than a spoilt brat.
We used to do 'Venus' live for a long time but never got 'round to recording it because people would always say it's too old-fashioned a song.
There are more important things in life than being thin, anyway men prefer women with a bit of meat.
I definitely think we paved the way for other girl groups. We did it very much on our own terms without kowtowing to all the men in the business or being told what to do by anyone. For that we feel very proud.
I've never been on a diet that lasted more than a day.
It never worked having a management style where someone would try to tell us what to do. It's never been the sort of group that we are.
A lot of my family were teachers, so that's what I always thought I'd end up being.
I just felt very young and unprepared. I didn't know anyone who'd been pregnant, and I didn't know anyone who'd had a baby. Because everyone around me didn't really get it, I just kept on as though nothing was happening, even though I was slightly scared and throwing up everywhere.
We were approached to do the story of Bananarama as a film.
I've got greasy hair, what can I say?
The first time I got recognized in the Sates, it was by Mike Tyson. He sang 'Cruel Summer' at us as we were walking out of the hotel to go to the beach.
When we first were working, we had no money. We were all sharing this ghastly flat and we had nothing.
We were so young when we started, quite naive and shy - we kind of knew what we were doing but didn't because we hadn't been stage schooled.
I think it was about 1990 when we first wore heels to perform.
It's a real shame if people feel they have to do anything that makes them uncomfortable to be successful.
I think we've got the tracks that everyone wants to sing along to. A lot of people say, 'God, I've forgotten you've had so many hits!'
Most of the people we worked with were men. And the women were secretaries.
Women shouldn't have to apologise for their age or growing old. It is just inevitable.
It's not like we don't have any talent. We can't sing like Whitney Houston, but we can sing well.
How we looked on TV was exactly how we looked during the day.
You can be normal if you choose to be.
Being paid to travel the world with your best mates, you really can't complain.
