A lot of people in the music business are a bit doom and gloom, People say it's probably easier to write sad songs than it is to write happy ones, so that's maybe why. I just wanted to be a bit positive about things rather than always being negative.
— Amy Macdonald
With my first three albums I did everything on my own. It was what I was used to and where I felt comfortable. I would write the lyrics and music and hide the songs from everyone until I felt confident enough for anyone to hear them.
I think it's important to be in control of my own destiny; to a lot of people I'm just a product, so I feel it's up to me to take a keen interest in what's going on around me. After all, it's my life.
I hate getting my photograph taken; just because I'm a musician doesn't mean I should have to sell my soul and have pictures of myself on stage with a red face and sweaty armpits plastered over 'Heat!' every week. I'm not a model.
Since I was 18 I was in the record industry doing my own thing, and I had to be that strong person.
I was asked if I'd audition for a part in a Broadway musical because the director just loved me.
I love 'Top Gear'. It's my favorite show.
There are some amazing women's football teams out there and it is good that they are being recognised. I was always terrible at football, so I am a little bit envious of their amazing skills.
I come from Glasgow and being from Glasgow everyone knows about Celtic and Rangers. It is a big part of most people's lives.
I could tell when I first started having sessions with stylists that my size was an issue. No one outright told me to lose weight but I knew it was a problem. I started to lose weight when I began touring.
My boyfriend has always been a collector of art. He once rang up Paul Kenton and asked him to paint a New York skyline for me. He did, and it is the first painting that has ever been painted just for me.
I've always bought CDs and even when I was young and at primary school I had a massive collection of CDs. I just like the excitement of opening it, reading the book, learning all the words and things like that. Hopefully I'll always be like that.
I've never been told to do anything. I've never been hurried along by anybody - the kind of so-called 'pressure' of record labels doesn't really exist in my case.
I've played in practically every city in Scotland, and loads of towns as well. I just feel very grateful that I'm able to do that.
Hearing the statistic that one in four children in Scotland suffer from poverty just made me think that if there is even a tiny thing I could do that would help then it was totally worthwhile.
When I was 11 I went to New York with my mum, dad and sister. I felt like I was on a movie set the whole time and loved being over there on Independence Day.
I wouldn't have wasted a lot of time pursuing music. I was very lucky that my first demos got accepted.
If I've done a gig and at the end there are people waiting for autographs, they always seem nervous, but they probably don't realise that I'm more nervous than them. I get very embarrassed.
I've always been able to lead quite a normal life. It is a little crazy that I can travel all over Europe and play these massive shows but still come home to a relatively quiet life.
I don't have the songwriter's obligatory sob story. My sister and I both had a very happy, normal childhood and we've turned into sensible adults.
I have a lot of fans in places like Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and I spend a lot of time there.
I'm someone that maybe people who don't know a lot about me actually know more of my songs than they think they do.
I have been offered so many parts in movies and I just think it's so outrageous as I've never really done acting or things like that.
My dad documented my whole life on video and there are so many recordings of my sister and I dancing and singing along to Michael Jackson's music.
My favourite football memory is the opening match of France '98, and unfortunately Scotland had drawn Brazil.
If you are anxious, if you doubt yourself, if you stress over everything, it ultimately means you really care about what you do.
I arrived in London and I was terrified. I never wanted to be a celebrity - one minute I was in school and the next I was in London talking to people at a record company. If anything, I didn't feel in any way worthy.
I have always been a fan of the Guillemots. Fyfe Dangerfield, the lead singer, has recently produced a debut solo album called 'Fly Yellow Moon'; he has the most amazing voice ever.
I'm confident when I perform but going into a horrible, boring studio and playing the same thing over and over again is really different to being on stage!
My sister and I both used to wear matching clothes and now my mum, sister and I have the same bag which we all use even when together. Which probably doesn't look that cool.
I'm inspired by everything that goes on around me; my friends; my family; my own feelings; or even things that are happening in the world.
If I'm out shopping, in Topshop or wherever, I'm never spotted. In fact, I'm usually asked if I have a student card. No-one seems to notice me, they're oblivious to who I am even in Scotland, and I'm very happy to be able to blend in with the crowd.
I think I must be one of the only people who hasn't done the whole let's-crack-America thing.
We have this obsession with celebrity, where people can go on shows and makes millions of pounds from being completely talentless - Jade Goody, all that type of people - and it really gets to me. I'm not interested, I'm a musician. It's not about being famous and being a celeb.
I've always been a fan of Bruce Springsteen.
I had planned on taking things easy for a while in 2014 but things started to crop up and I ended up having quite a busy year, with events including the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games with Rod Stewart.
I'm always being told I've got an old head on young shoulders, which is probably due to the way my mum and dad brought me up.
I'd never jump on a bandwagon; sometimes people do that and it's not what I wanted to do.
To me, the term 'best of' is quite embarrassing, I think of Madonna and Bruce Springsteen and all these amazing artists. I don't really see myself in that kind of gang, unfortunately.
Singing Flower of Scotland was the only thing that made me nervous.I don't get nervous doing my own shows.
I remember my mum playing 'Dancing In The Dark' and I thought it was cool.
I support Rangers and every time an Old Firm match comes up people will talk about it and look forward to it.
I wanted music to be a career. To base everything on fame to me seemed a dangerous thing - I wanted my foundations to be about improving as a performer and writer. No one could push me into going down that route of being a celebrity singer.
We watch a load of films on the tour bus. We all watched Michael Jackson's 'This Is It', which was really amazing and it is a shame we will never get to see him perform live again.
I loved Jake Gyllenhaal. He's the most beautiful thing ever.
No, I'm never confident with what I do, particularly playing and singing!
I didn't have many celebrity crushes, it was mainly Rangers players! I had a thing for Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. Looking back, I really don't know why! Great player though!
I'm quite well-rehearsed in having mental days; being awake at the crack of dawn and still having to be awake late at night.
As a very patriotic and passionate Scot, singing the anthem at a big football match means the world to me and I'm so lucky and so honoured that I get asked to do this.
I write simple songs, and people like that. They're mature enough to appeal to people who aren't teenage girls. Most of my fans are older, and it's nice to think the songs can appeal to middle-aged men and women.
