b. Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3 November 1948, Lennox Castle, Glasgow, Scotland. Lulu was originally a beat group vocalist with her own backing group the Luvvers, who comprised Ross Nelson (guitar), Jim Dewar (rhythm guitar), Alec Bell (keyboards), Jimmy Smith (saxophone), Tony Tierney (bass) and David Miller (drums). The 15-year-old singer first came to prominence with a rasping version of the Isley Brothers' "Shout" in 1964. Under the tutelage of manager Marian Massey she survived a stormy couple of years during which only two of her eight singles charted. Abandoning the Luvvers along the way, she switched record labels from Decca Records to Columbia Records and found a new hitmaker in the form of Mickie Most. A cover of Neil Diamond's "The Boat That I Row" saw an upsurge in her career during 1967, which was punctuated by an acting part in the movie To Sir With Love. The theme tune from the film gave her a million-selling US number 1, and in the UK it reached number 6, despite being relegated to b-side of the inferior "Let's Pretend". Further UK hits followed, notably "Me, The Peaceful Heart", "Boy" and "I'm A Tiger". Having established herself as an entertainer of wide appeal, Lulu was granted her own television series and later represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest. The painfully trite "Boom-Bang-A-Bang" tied for first place and provided her highest UK chart placing at number 2.
Her brief marriage to Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees was followed by another switch of labels and musical styles when she worked with famed producer Jerry Wexler on two albums. A lean period of flop singles ended when David Bowie intervened to produce and arrange her hit version of "The Man Who Sold The World". During the 70s, she concentrated increasingly on stage work and developed her career as an all-round entertainer, a spin-off of which was becoming the long-standing model/endorser for the Freeman's mail-order catalogue. Appearances in Guys And Dolls, Song And Dance and the television programme The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole distracted her from the studio but a disco re-recording of "Shout", in 1986, repeated the Top 10 success of 22 years before.
In 1993, Lulu released Independence, an album of "modern disco pop with a flavour of classic soul and R&B". Co-produced by Bobby Womack and London Beat, the title track registered strongly in the UK and US charts, and was followed by another single, "I'm Back For More", on which Lulu duetted with Womack. She was, by then, creating some of her own material, and one of her songs, "I Don't Wanna Fight Any More", written with her brother, Billy Laurie, was recorded by Tina Turner. Later in the year she reached UK number 1 as guest vocalist on Take That's cover version of Dan Hartman's "Relight My Fire'. A series of minor hits followed over the rest of the decade as Lulu continued to work hard to cement her reputation as a 60s survivor and keep in the news. She was awarded the OBE in June 2000 for her contribution to the entertainment industry. Her next big project was 2002"s duets album, featuring collaborations with rock stars Elton John, Paul McCartney and Sting, and newer artists Atomic Kitten and Westlife.
Lulu has managed to retain immense credibility, especially with a young and hip audience. It is almost unimaginable that this artist recorded songs like "Boom-Bang-A-Bang".
