Lulu (singer)

Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie OBE (born 3 November 1948), best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer and songwriter.

Life and career

A native of Glasgow, Lulu shot to fame at the age of fifteen with her version of Shout!, delivered in a raucous and extremely mature voice. Her backing group were called The Luvvers, but after several more British hits she left the group to become a solo artist.

In 1966, Lulu toured Poland with the British rock and roll band The Hollies, making her the first British female singer to appear live behind the Iron Curtain.

In 1967 she made her debut as a film actress in To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier. She had a major hit with the film's title song, which shot to No. 1 in the United States (in the U.K., it was released only on the B-side of Let's Pretend, a much less successful hit). In the meantime, she continued with a thriving pop career in the U.K. and several television series of her own. On 29 March 1969, she represented the United Kingdom by performing the song Boom bang-a-bang at the Eurovision Song Contest, and was joint winner with the representatives of Spain, the Netherlands and France—there had never been a draw before, and the rules were altered to prevent it ever happening again.

In the same year, Lulu married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees in a ceremony in Gerrards Cross. Their careers forced them apart, and they divorced, childless, in 1973. Later in the '70s, Lulu then married her hairdresser, John Frieda, and remained with him for twenty years until another divorce. They had one son, Jordan Frieda in 1977. She became interested in Eastern mysticism and joined Siddha Yoga Meditation.

In 1974 she performed the title song in the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. Two slightly different versions of the song were used, at the start and end respectively - the end song actually name-checking James Bond.

Also during 1974, she did a cover of 2 of David Bowie's classic songs, The Man Who Sold the World and "Watch That Man". Bowie himself produced the recordings and played saxophone, and provided back-up vocals on it. There were also rumours that they had a short love relationship at the time, before she married John Frida.

Later Career

Lulu's singing career waned, but she remained in the public eye, continuing to act, and modelled in Freeman's fashion catalogue for a while during the late '70s and early '80s. She won the 'Rear of the Year' award in 1983, and re-recorded a number of her songs, Including "Shout" which reached the Top 10 in 1986 in the UK, securing her a spot to perform on the popular BBC music program, Top Of The Pops.

In 1987, she played Adrian Mole's mother on television, and in the 1990s she made a comeback, guesting on the cover version of the Dan Hartman song Relight My Fire, with Take That. The single reached number one in the British charts. She also appeared as herself, an unhappy PR Client of main character Edina Monsoon in 2 episodes of the hugely popular BBC television programme Absolutely Fabulous.

In 2000 she was awarded an OBE by the British Government. Her 2003 autobiography is called Don't Wanna Fight No More after a hit song she and her brother wrote for Tina Turner, which is a song that Lulu later released in 2003, allong with her "Greatest Hits" Album. Tina Turner recorded her version in the early '90s, and it was a huge success.

In 2002 her gold album Together was a collection of duets with the likes of Elton John and Paul McCartney. In 2004 she released the album Back on Track and went on a UK-wide tour to celebrate 40 years in the business.

In late 2004, Lulu became the host of her own 2-hour radio show, on BBC Radio 2, playing an eclectic blend of music from the 1950s to the 2000s, all having to do with the influence of songwriting.

In 2005, Lulu released A Little Soul In Your Heart, a collection of Motown Soul Covers and Soul classics, which entered the UK charts at #28.

In March 2006, Lulu launched her official Myspace profile, where she could keep in contact with current fans, and reconnect with old ones.

She has more recently appeared in the BBC's reality TV show Just The Two Of Us in 2006 as a judge, and in late June 2006, appeared on Take That's UK tour, to perform their song "Relight My Fire".

Discography

Albums

1965 ''Something To Shout About UK
1969 ''The Most Of Lulu
1969 ''Lulu's Album
1969 ''New Routes
1970 ''Melody Fair
1970 ''It's Lulu
1971 The Most of Lulu — #15 UK
1973 '' The Man Who Sold The World)
1976 ''Heaven and Earth and the Stars
1978 ''Don't Take Love For Granted
1993 Independence — #67 UK
2002 Together — #4 UK (Duets with Various Artists)
2003 The Greatest Hits — #35 UK
2004 Back On Track
2005 A Little Soul in Your Heart — #28 UK

Filmography

Gonks Go Beat (1965)
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Cucumber Castle (1970)
The Cherry Picker (1972)
Alice (1982) (voice)
Men in Love (1989)
Antonio's Girlfriend (1992)
Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999)