Jason Houston from Rock Zone Productions(he had interviews with Tracii Guns (LA Guns), Robbie Crane (Ratt/Vince Neil), Audie Desbrow (Great White), Paul Di'Anno (ex-Iron Maiden/Killers), Jeff Watson (Night Ranger), Dave Evans(AC/DC), etc... recently had an interview with Barbara Schenker  in July 2007:
1. How long have you been a professional musician?
 Since I left school. Even though I could have started University, I did not vision myself in a normal professional career.  
2. What were some odd jobs you had early on to help support your musical dream?
 I lived above a disco for free for some time and in return I became a watch dog…( hahahaha…even though the disco was burgled twice while I was upstairs), staff behind the bar, being a Rock'n'Roll wade robe girl a.s.o……..I loved it!!!!!
3. How old were you when you first started playing the piano/keyboards?
 Little…..on a little Hohner kids keyboard. The little motor underneath, was nearly as loud as the sound that it produced. Hahahaha……so funny!!!  
4. Did you take lessons or say that you're self taught?
 Self taught. I started, just copying melodies. Singing, guitar…all sorts. I self taught the recorder first though (what a silly instrument! I blame my mother… it was her idea - a Christmas present). But only after a little while I gave paid recorder lessons to my neighbors kids… it was brilliant and good money.  
5. Who's older? You, Michael or Rudolf?  
I am the baby of the family…..my mother still performs her “hush  hush” when I come into the room. She will never grow up!... I mean my mother!!! Well!!!  
6. Being that both your brothers are Guitar Players did that make you choose to play the  Keyboards?  I mean did you choose a different instrument to play than your brothers in hopes that it might help you stand out on your own?  
No! I did not think like that at all. It was more the fact, that that Hohner Keyboard was lying around in our “Kinderzimmer”. And then, when I realized that I should play with both hands, I asked my dad for a bigger keyboard. He said: “ Oh, No!!!.....not you as well!”  
7. Did you, Michael, and Rudolf ever perform together?
 No! But Michael joined VIVA live on stage in the early VIVA days.
8. Were you ever intimidated by the success your Brothers had or felt that their success got in the way of you having as successful of a career?
Yes!!! But I broke down the barriers in December  2005, when I registered my domain name “schenkerssister” and now, I just do what I want to do and it feels sooooo good, like I just started to live my life.
9. What year was your band VIVA formed?
1980 Germany’s youngest Pop/Rock Band VIVA was formed. We had a “Mega” Record-Deal, but by the end of the year all came to an end. The manager had disappeared….Later we found out that he had been locked up. About 6 months later I decided to give it another “try” and formed the Metal Act VIVA….first album “ What the Hell is going on!" in 1981.
 10. How did you hook up with the other members of VIVA and come to form the band?
“Born to Rock” VIVA singer Frank Algermissen was not interested anymore to continue the band business,  so, while I was invited to see Scorpions LIVE in London, I thought, I should look out for a good looking guy, that can sing as well. (Read this sort of thing in Biographies and decided to try it myself). And as if by magic London Hammersmith Odeon backstage area buzzing full of VIP’s and “nots”…a good looking male came down the stairs and it was nearly “ love at first sight”. Immediately we started to talk and 2 weeks later, he was ringing my door bell. Marc Paganini moved in and became the  new front man of VIVA…the rest of VIVA were tested and picked up locally.
11. Can you tell me who came up with the name VIVA?  What's the story behind the band's name?
The band name “VIVA” as well as the idea of the youngest POP act was the creation of that manager, that was later jailed. He needs to be nameless. My first contact to VIVA was in connection with Stage Clothes…..I made all that gear on the 1^st Album “Born To Rock”! The manager fancied me and ask me to join the band. I did and soon we headed for the Recording Studio. Thinking about it now, what another crazy story how to form a band. Yes crazy !!!!!! Ha ha…..The name “VIVA”…? That’s funny… as well !!! I could not believe it myself, when the manager told me, where he got it from. By the way, that manager spoilt me rotten. He must have loved me a lot and when we went shopping , he wanted to buy me some clothes, we went into a boutique. He said: “Did I ever tell you…..???? Look over there…….!!! VIVA.....yes !!! The name of a shop !!! Oh my god !!! To top that craziness !!! A boutique called “VIVA” just opened in my street. When I saw that, it sent shivers down my spine.
12. Can you tell me how VIVA landed its record deal?
The manager as well…a kind of a genius. He just told the Record Company, that he was sitting on a Gold Mine, they believed him and put the cash on the table….that simple. I know, because “the crazy man“ wanted me to come with him everywhere. To all the trips to  Record Companies and Publishers! He talked a lot and fast. As I said a crazy genius. 
13. What do you remember most from VIVA's very first recording session?
Because we had an amazing “Record Deal Budget” to blow……the studio, we recorded in was very good !! …..and to top that, the owner was Germany’s most successful and funniest comedian. ”That was even better!!!!
Everything was very disciplined and “High Class”, nearly sterile as I would describe the sound of the album “ Born to Rock “….not really “Rock'n'Roll”!
14. What kind of relationship did VIVA have with its record company?
Good question …and right now I am asking this myself. Somehow there were always VIVA members/managers, that took all the money and ran off. It is like a big blur to me and I am about to find out, “what the hell was going on” then??? I must have been asleep… but I have just woken up and I will have to go, smell the coffee and sort it all out!!!
15. What do you remember most about the music scene when VIVA was just hitting the scene?
It is very much the same, as it is now !!!!! Even better then….!!!!! It was the best!!!!
Melodic Hard Rock at it’s best. Van Halen top fit, Accept making it, Queen with Freddy …….a.s.o…….I am not nostalgic...!!! Usually I look into the future ...only!!!!
16. How would you describe the band's fan base?
The fans are very, passionate!! They are as warm as VIVA's music and intensely faithful!!!! “Viva is back” received a brilliant reaction!!! Fans were being surprised and happy at the same time.  One of them sent in a fantastic story about him being de-virgined by a much older girl friend to a VIVA song… you can’t top that one….!!!!
17. What was your relationship like w/the other band members?
Super…!!!!!! I think…..!!!.....may be not…..can’t really say….!!! It is like in daily live!!!!....but all in all cool….the pictures from the past tell…..they look in harmony!!!
18. I read on the band's MySpace page that your manager went to jail. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
No!!! It came from nowhere… totally out of the blue. Shall I tell you what it was like??? It was like all of a sudden your parents tell you they divorce. All fell apart from one day to the next!!!
19. What led to you leaving VIVA?
Some people can’t handle it, when success comes into their lives. They change and most of the times for the worse. This irritated me about VIVA for quite a while!!!! And then there was a strange development going on with 2 of the VIVA's !! They believed they “rule”!!!... how silly!!! All that was manipulated by the third party, we called her “Red Danger” the girl friend of the guitarist. Those 3 were doing some sort of -Black Magic- meetings…..!!!! We had our own rehearsal studio and we met nearly daily for practice. Andy Fach and Andreas Kawaldt the 2 obsessed idiots were talking more and more about their walk to power and that me and Marc Paganini would turn into their slaves. They promised, we would not be able to do anything about that!!! 
Wow….that sounded too much like a “Freak Show” to me and I decided, “it was time to go now”!!! Ha-ha……..one of them ended up in prison for murder>>>>>>clearly fun was out of the window!!!!!
20. I understand after leaving VIVA that you almost joined UFO but that didn't work out. What happened with that?
Yes, that was weird!!!!
21. What did you do in the years following your departure from VIVA?
I was in “Nowhere Land”…...I recorded my own songs, one of them “ Lover No. 1” which I wrote and pre recorded at home. One day my brother Michael came to visit me, he liked the song a lot, got his guitar out of the car and the next morning the song was done. ”Lover No. 1” on my MySpace player is the proper studio version.
Later I joined the all girl band “ROSY VISTA”. Cool Girls….nothing like the girls that I stay away from. Did you know????….there are girls, that scare me!!! I detect them with my antenna!!!! 
Rosy Vista lasted until the singer became painfully anorexic. Meanwhile my stars were looking bright!! I ended up touring in Germany with a band from Berlin called “Amazone”……. We supported “Uriah Heep” and it was a fantastic tour with a brilliant fee, super catering and a proper love affair. All which brought me to England, where I always wanted to live…..loving it, while visiting my brother Michael Schenker in his early UFO carrier!!!!
22. I also read that on newer bios that the band tried to act as though you were never a member of the band. That must have hurt. Why do you think they'd do such a thing?
I don’t really know. I guess it’s the jealousy of all the attention, I always got in the media and all. One more reason to get the facts right now. Did it hurt ????? No, because until now, I was not aware of it. 
23. What's the best way for someone to get hold of some VIVA music?
Go to VIVA Official website http://www.tankfilthhounds.net/viva/. There you will get regular updates…!!! I think in the moment you can get copies from a French label called “Axe Killer”. All that re-release business has been done behind our back!!!---- things might change ----!!!
24. What do you remember most from the band's very first professional gig?
I guess it was supporting SCORPIONS and Lucifer's Friends ( John Lawton ) in Munich, Germany…..in this huge big Circus building called Circus Krone. Unforgettable. It was brilliant and we even had to give an encore!!!
25. What would you say has been the high point of your career so far?
Meeting the Queen…!!!! Yeahhhhhh…really…!!!!The London Town Crier recently told me, that I was mentioned in a Royal Speech. It was pointed out, that me and my Budgie were one of her high lights that year !!! The Queen had never seen a budgie “on the road” and she thought, that it was rather very remarkable. I even received a letter from the Palace, saying “cool stuff “!! I guess you meant high point in “ Rock'n'Roll” so far ???? Mmm……I can’t tell you… it’s still to come. Touring in France, Sweden, Holland and Belgium was out of this world….the Fans from then--- rolling in now--- as we speak.
26. What are you currently up to?
Getting VIVA back on the road. The band is complete and the mess from the past is about to be sorted. Did not know, what the hell was going on then…. Financially and just everything!!!
27. What does the future hold for you?
Try to stop me!!!! And with this amount of positive energy I have got, I hope to get it now!!!... what I should have had in the past!!!