DIDN'T YOU USED TO BE SUSIE MATHIS?

by Susie Mathis

From fronting the first ever girl pop group in the sixties to being the first woman to host a daytime radio show in the late seventies- my career was a series of firsts for a woman. I was a pioneer for women in the music industry. Allowing other female singers and DJs to follow where I have forced open the door. The Spice girls using nicknames wasn’t original, but Tiger Spyder and Copper of The Paper Dolls were. Skip the fact that they reached world wide domination and we didn’t .

I have met numerous stars of stage and screen and been friends with quite a few along the way, I’ve established charities which have been hugely successful but remain forever personally dear to me and I’ve had what – even when toned down - can only be described as a colourful life! Along the way there has been childhood abuse, personal heartbreak and tragedy as well as a life full of friendship, laughter and love.

The title DIDN’T YOU USED TO BE SUSIE MATHIS? comes from an encounter with a man who said just that to me recently. It made me think long and hard? Was I no longer that person because I wasn’t there when he turned on the radio in the morning? Did it mean that what I was still achieving in my life meant less because I ‘used to be’ someone. I still was someone wasn’t I?

I think many women feel this way as they go through life. That they can become somewhat invisible, that their achievements are in the past.