She is 5ft 2 of undiluted rock'n'roll attitude decanted into a tight leather jumpsuit. Over the years, Suzi Quatro has notched up chart-toppers, turned down Elvis Presley's advances, and inspired a generation of female stars - without ever losing an ounce of her ingrained Detroit grit. When AC/DC star Angus Young foolishly molested her, Suzi was ready to knock him out. "We were on the same show and as I was walking upstairs someone pinched my ass," she tells me. "I turned around with my fist raised and he went bright red and said, 'I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.' He seemed so sincere I said I'd let him off once but if he did it again, he wouldn't be playing guitar for months."

Although Suzi, 75, assures me her mouth is her weapon, she admits rewarding persistent pests with a quick knee to the privates. One creep who came too close making a lewd gesture with his tongue, found her bass guitar colliding with his head. In April, she starts a ten-date UK tour including her third year headlining the London Palladium. "I'm never gonna stop - why should I?" she says defiantly. "Compared to Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, I'm still a baby. Besides, I'm getting reviews to die for, and my energy is still intact - unfortunately for people around me."

Suzi made her stage debut at 7 playing bongos for her father's Art Quatro Trio. Art, a jazz keyboardist with a day job at General Motors, was supposed to take her to church but took her to his gig instead. "It became a thing. He gave me 25 cents every time we played." Aged 14, she formed her first band, the Pleasure Seekers, with two of her sisters after seeing The Beatles on American TV, and ended up playing bass by default. "My father gave me a Fender Precision - the Rolls-Royce of bass guitars. It was also the heaviest, with the thickest neck, and had a perfect sound. As soon as I put it on, I knew it was exactly me."

Tomboy Suzi was a self-confessed "smart-ass" who enjoyed the company of "tough boys" and hard rockers. On Detroit's thriving and edgy rock circuit, she befriended Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, and the MC5. At 17, the band went to Vietnam to entertain US troops. "The club in Guam we were booked to play had been destroyed, so we played the officers' club. Then we were asked to visit the soldiers in hospital - there were people with limbs blown off, people who were blinded. It was a harrowing experience for a young girl."

That same year, they supported rock legend Chuck Berry in Buffalo. "Our guitarist was very blonde, very pretty and very busty and Chuck jokingly - he was joking - threw her on the couch just as my dad walked in from parking. Dad grabbed him by the shoulder, swung him round and punched him out."

King Charles left Suzy Quatro speechless with saucy 7-word quip