Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Still cool at 72? Just don’t ask my granddaughter!
go on there leave me behind. They are real artists, the way they paint their faces as if it’s a canvas.
“I can’t experiment too much on this old face, but there are little things I’ve learned from them.”
Lulu burst onto the pop scene aged 15 with her first hit Shout in 1964.
Within three years the daughter of a Glasgow butcher was also an actress, appearing in and singing the title track to 1967 film To Sir with Love, which topped the US charts.
Her star never really waned – she and Cliff Richard are the only artists to have sung on Top Of The Pops in each of the five decades that the show ran.
She also hosted several TV shows in the 60s, represented the UK in the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest and sang the title song for 1974 Bond film The Man
with the Golden Gun. In 1993, she made a recording comeback with Independence, which reached No11, before getting to No1 with Relight My Fire with Take That, who she toured with in 2019.
Along the way she also had two marriages – her first in 1969 to Bee Gee Maurice Gibb broke down after four years, and her second in 1976 to John Frieda lasted until 1990.
“Music is my first love,” she admits. “There’s nothing that will sustain if you don’t give it a lot of attention, whether it’s your children, career, marriage. Maybe that’s why I’ve not
been married for a long time, most of my energy goes into music.
“Do I regret that? Maybe sometimes, but very little. I’ve had a long life and that’s something to do with it. It wasn’t a short-lived existence, and the two guys I chose were great.”
Lulu is now about to go on tour with Jools Holland until July next year. How does she do it?
“Because I love it,” she smiles. “This is what I’m meant to do. I’m very lucky because I’ve got tremendous energy.” Lulu, who this year had her OBE upgraded to a CBE, insists she doesn’t think about the day she’ll be forced to
stop. She adds: “Elton John is on a platform above us all, he’s just announced the last tour but I don’t think he’ll stop working. He’s unstoppable. It’s all about living in the moment.”
She adds: “Some say its depressing to talk about dying but not me, it’s part of living. So you prepare for that, you do what you want to do, you don’t say you’ll do it later.”
And she insists she isn’t interested in anyone else to grow older with. “I’m very busy doing what I’m doing. What I’m excited about at the moment is getting my booster shot, going to see the new Bond film – I love Billie Eilish’s song – and going to see my grandkids.”
Rupaul’s Drag Race UK with special guest Lulu is on BBC iplayer.
I’m very lucky, I’ve got this tremendous energy. I’m very busy LULU ON HOW SHE MAKES THE MOST OUT OF LIFE