Neneh Cherry: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Neneh Cherry

Swedish singer

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

My grandmother, Marianne Karlsson.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 June 2014 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Person Marianne Karlsson not yet on FLAPSS

Others on this question

View all 407 →

Mariska Hargitay

People who do hard, honorable work in obscurity.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2024 source ↗

George H. W. Bush 41st President of the United States, 1989–1993

Abraham Lincoln truly inspired me. It wasn't just the freeing of the slaves, he kept the Union together. Some people even forget that today. What I think inspired me was the fact that in spite of being the president of the United States he retained a certain down-to-earth quality. He never got to be a big shot, and he cared about people.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗

Bernadette Peters

I most admire Steve Sondheim, who is not alive anymore. But his words and music keep him alive.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2025 source ↗

Big Narstie British entertainer

Ed Sheeran, a little ginger boy from the farmlands in Suffolk who ran away to London, slept on the streets and became the biggest musician in the world.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 January 2022 source ↗