Bangles star Susanna Hoffs reveals the one lesson she's learned

2023-06-11

Don’t wait to do the thing you love: Bangles star Susanna Hoffs reveals the one lesson she’s learned from life

Hoffs said she advertised herself in a local news-paper in LA to find bandmates
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Susanna Hoffs, 64, was catapulted to fame in The Bangles, an all-girl U.S. band whose hits included Manic Monday.

She lives in LA and is married to film director Jay Roach, with whom she has sons Jackson, 28, and Sam, 24.

Don’t wait to do the thing you love

I’ve always been self-taught. This is very much true for music. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I went to see the Patti Smith Group and what turned out to be the last Sex Pistols show, and these concerts cemented the idea that I wanted to write songs and play music.

I didn’t know how to start a band, so I just advertised myself in a local news-paper in LA, alongside the used car ads. I was a 20-something hoping I would meet my future bandmates, which I did! We became The Bangles.

Susanna Hoffs lives in LA and is married to film director Jay Roach, with whom she has sons Jackson, 28, and Sam, 24

Because we were a do-it-yourself kind of band, we knew we had to be b*llsy. We all had this feeling that we were going to make it happen and we’d book ourselves into clubs to play our set.

But there was no interest from record companies for a very long time. It was only thanks to Bruce Springsteen that we got a record deal with Columbia.

One of their employees dragged Springsteen to a theme park — Magic Mountain, north of LA — where we were playing in a little concert area.

All I know is Springsteen must have given us the thumbs up because next thing we knew, we were signed up.

She was catapulted to fame in The Bangles, an all-girl U.S. band whose hits included Manic Monday

Hoffs said she didn’t know how to start a band, so she just advertised herself in a local news-paper in LA, alongside the used car ads

I taught myself to write songs and co-wrote some of The Bangles hits, like Hero Takes A Fall and Eternal Flame.

This Bird Has Flown is about a one-hit wonder pop star who isn’t sure if she can ever connect with audiences again

Being a club band and very scrappy and unpolished, we never expected to become so popular. We were so lucky that Prince wrote one of our biggest hits for us, Manic Monday.

The Bangles broke up in 1989 and I went solo. I’ve been working with the great record producer Peter Asher [who worked with The Beatles, Diana Ross and Cher] on a new album.

In my 50s, I decided to dive into the deep end and see if I could write a novel. This Bird Has Flown is about a one-hit wonder pop star who isn’t sure if she can ever connect with audiences again.

But it’s also about sex, love and rock ’n’ roll. So don’t wait for permission to do the thing you’re desperate to do — go do it yourself!

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs is out now (£9.99, Piatkus).

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