POP LEGEND LULU’s last Shout
Star heads out on farewell tour with hints about ‘special guests’
LULU’S most famous hit was Shout and as a gutsy Glaswegian, she is not afraid to speak her mind, but, shh, we can let you into a secret... When she is on tour, you won’t hear a peep out of her, let alone a shout, before noon, as she takes a morning vow of silence to keep her voice in shape.
At the age of 75, she is about to embark on her farewell tour, Champagne for Lulu, and ahead of her first concerts this weekend has revealed how she takes care of her voice.
She said: “I’m very disciplined. I have learned to use my vowels and use the whole range of my voice. I exercise my voice, I watch my diet, I exercise.
“And I don’t speak before 12 noon when I am on tour. It is not a big deal, I have done total silence for weeks.
“It is all about discipline. I can understand why you might think I’m lying. But no. I try not to come out of my room until 12. It makes it easier.
“I take care of my instrument. It allows me to sing.”
It explains why Lulu can still belt out those numbers at 75. Even though her biggest hit involves vocal gymnastics each night, she insisted she would not have it any other way.
She said: “I can still do it, so why would I think I should have something easier? I have thought about this recently as I’m getting older.
“Because I’m working class and I have a very strong work ethic, I don’t look for things to be easy, necessarily.”
Lulu had to cancel more than 30 dates of her 2023 UK tour due to the lingering effects of Long Covid.
So she will embark on her farewell tour, celebrating 60 years in music, with a show in Glasgow, her home city, next week. She told BBC Breakfast: “To be honest with you, if when I was 15 years old and someone would have suggested I’d be doing a farewell tour when I’m 75, I’d have said, ‘You are having a laugh’.”
Talking about her decision to make this tour her last, she said: “You almost need an army to go on the road. And I don’t want to do it like this any more.
“I was 75 in November, and it’s 60 years this year. People kept saying, how are you going to celebrate? So in a way this is my chance for me to party. “This is how I party.” Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Lulu began her career aged
12, when she and her manager approached local bands, asking if she could sing with them on stage.
In 1965, aged 15, she shot to fame when Shout, a cover of The Isley Brothers track, became a hit.
She then became an all-round entertainer, co-hosting her first TV show, Gadzooks! It’s The In-Crowd, later in 1965.
In 1969, she represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest with her song Boom Bang-a-Bang, which was the joint winner. She shared the
prize with France, the Netherlands and Spain, all scoring 18 points each. Lulu also launched an acting career, appearing with Sidney Poitier in the 1967 movie, To Sir, with Love. And she recorded the theme song to the
Just to be famous is difficult, not an answer to all your dreams
LULU ON HER 60 YEARS IN ENTERTAINMENT
1974 Roger Moore James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun.
A later career highlight was her duet with Take That on Relight My Fire, which was a No1 in 1993. She said: “It was an incredible thing and they were very, very... respectful is the word, because they were like in their teens and I was like 40, but I’ve had many reinventions in my life and that was a big one. And now we’re family.”
With Lulu hinting that “special friends” may join her on some tour dates, fans may get to see her and Gary Barlow on stage.
Lulu’s personal life has not always been as successful as her professional life. She made headlines when she wed first husband, Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, in 1969 after a whirlwind romance when she was 20. It lasted four years. She had a relationship with David Bowie after they recorded The Man Who Sold the World together in 1974. In 1977, she wed hairdresser John Frieda. They had a son Jordan, her only child, before splitting after 14 years of marriage. Asked what she had learned from fame, Lulu said: “Just to be famous is quite a difficult thing to cope with. It’s not an answer to all of your dreams. Fame is only what’s on the outside. It seems like they’re rich, famous, got everything at their fingertips.
“That’s not really what it’s all about.
“I always wanted to have lots of children, I thought, and then when it came to it, I didn’t. That was a heartbreak for me. But I’ve trained myself to look at what I’ve got, and not what I don’t have.
“To be living at 75 is an achievement.
And to still be able to sing and to have energy and have your health. I get down on my knees every day and thank God for just being alive. And for being Lulu.”
But she has one dream left unfulfilled. She said: “I want to sing a duet with Rod Stewart, it’s on my wish list. I may have to approach Rod at some point.”
Lulu’s tour kicks off with warm-up dates in Scotland at the weekend and then around the UK until April 17. Details at luluofficial.com