I already had top 10 records before 'Sunshine Superman,' with 'Catch the Wind' and 'Colors,' but this was a real breakthrough for me. It was a consciousness change for songwriting, as people are now saying I initiated the psychedelic revolution with this album, 'Sunshine Superman.'

'Sunshine Superman' was a pioneering work that for the first time presented a fusion of Celtic, jazz, folk, rock, and Indian music as well as poetry.

I absorbed the vinyl of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jack Elliott, to Michael McClure and then into the Beat poets, Allen Ginsberg. At campus, we were absorbing that stuff. We looked to America.

After having polio, my right leg was weaker, so I wasn't great at football. But I swam lots and even did long-distance running.

Celebrities can suffer a horrible loneliness even though they have millions of fans. I started doing meditations because I realized that a spiritual path was necessary.

In 1968, I bought a 114-foot yacht, built in 1946, and lived on the Greek islands for a while. We had an extraordinary time in it. Then I gave it to The Beatles.

A writer without a pen would be like a duck without water!

My kids mean more to me than anything I thought was important when I was younger.

I thought the best thing to do to bring me back to reality would be to have a child, and by the time I had my first, Taylor, when I was 25, we'd sold 35 million records as a band, and I'd had enough; I knew my sanity was more important than success.

I was so famous that I couldn't leave the hotel room. I remember looking out of the window at all these fans but just feeling so isolated.

When you're pregnant or living with an infant, there's a kind of sacredness around your body that affects everything you do.

When the band were really big and we had massive hits, I was always stressed-out and insecure. I thought I wanted the band to be really popular, but when that happened, there was so much pressure to keep it going.

Not everybody wanted a female to be the front face of a big band, you know... You had to be three times better than a man had to be.

You never find peace in this realm, but it's okay, because when my dad went to the other side, he looks after me now better than he did in life. He is with me all the time.

People look at you and see a product. They don't see a soul. They see an empty hole.

I just block out the demons. I sing. I block them away. I put my pain into my music. I paint. I make my own videos. I direct myself. No one directs me anymore. I am in charge of my destiny.

Everyone at school knew I wanted to be a singer. I'd always be banging on the piano playing my new song. The teacher would gather us round, and the whole class would listen.

People don't look at you singing. They go within themselves and listen. Music is about listening, not looking. That's why I wore these huge baggy dresses on stage with The Cranberries.

I enjoyed living in Canada, where my husband comes from, because I was treated like any ordinary person. I became a volunteer at my children's school; I went into the classroom. It was very grounding. I got sick of being famous.

I didn't really know many girls, growing up, because there weren't many other people living around where I lived.

People often ask me why I sing with a strong Irish accent. I suppose when I was five years old, I spoke with a strong Irish accent, so I sang with one, too.

We all got older, and we'd tell our children things like, 'Mommy used to be in a famous rock band,' but they didn't believe us. Part of the reason for our reunion was to show our children what we did to make the lives they have possible.

It was tough. We went right from being teenagers to musical superstars with money and fame and attention. All of us had a hard time adjusting to it, especially me.

My mom always had a softer spot for boys, as a lot of Irish women do. If you were a girl, you'd have to sing or wear a pretty dress. But boys could just sit there and be brilliant for sitting there and being boys. It makes you that little bit more forward. Pushy. I was singing, always.