I think about why we’re here and it’s not about fame and money. It’s about being the best you can be and that’s why I’m still happy getting up in the morning
Showbusiness legend Lulu opens up on love, loss, and her astonishing career as she prepares to launch her biggest tour at 68 – Lulu on why she is hitting the road again
Theschoolgirl singing sensation might now be 68.
But Lulu, who is about to embark on her biggest ever tour, has no intention of slowing down or shutting up.
In a heartfelt interview, she opened up about getting older, losing friends like David Bowie, and understanding what is important in life.
She said: “I’ve studied these things – I’ve been doing meditation for 30-odd years – so I’m hopefully much more aware than I was when I was younger.
“I look at life and death, why we’re here and what we’re supposed to do.
“It’s not about being famous or rich, it’s about being the best person you can be.
“It doesn’t mean you have to be perfect, whichiswhatIthoughtwhenIwas younger.”
Her apparently age-defying looks have long been hailed by fans but Lulu says it is more important to feel good than look good. She said: “I look my age, to be honest. “I can’t believe I’m getting older. “When I feel that my back’s killing me or my knee hurts I think ‘This is not good – I don’t like this!’
“So I become Mrs Grumpy. But I like to dress modern and because I’m in the music business I can get away with murder. Getting dressed and looking modern is a great challenge for an older woman. You can step over the line and make a lot of mistakes. “I don’t want to be fashion obsessed. “But I like to be in the now. I don’t want to be ‘I can only wear that lipstick or have my hair like I was 15’.”
The thing that keeps Lulu invigorated most is her music. Having grown up in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow, she was just 15 when she took the charts by storm with Shout in 1964 and she had a string of hits in the subsequent decades.
She became a star in the US singing To Sir With Love from the hit film, won Eurovision with Boom Bang-a-Bang and performed the theme to Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun.
Two years ago she received acclaim for her album Making Life Rhyme and, after numerous sell-out shows since, sets off on the countrywide blitz.
The All About The Music tour will see the Grammy-nominated singer play 43 dates, including six in Scotland.
“If I just put my feet up, I’d probably wither away and die,” confides Lulu. “This is what makes the blood course through my veins. Because it’s a long tour, people say it must be arduous but it gives me energy. My voice gets stronger.
“I live for this and I always have done. I’ve felt the same way since I was a child. This makes me happy to get up in the morning.”
Over the years Lulu has taken to the road with Take That, Jools Holland, Chaka Khan and Anastacia among others. This time round she’ll be on her own, performing tracks from the past 50 years including Relight My Fire and The Man Who Sold The World.
“The bonus in my life is that I’ve been around for so many decades and I can still do it.
“I’ve got the same passion, maybe even more because I’m grateful for what I have.”
The Man Who Sold The World came out of her relationship with David Bowie, one of the musical legends lost over the past couple of years.
“It’s always a shock because there’s always that element of seeming invincibility,” she says. “There’s a tremendous sadness and it’s hard to accept.
“It makes you think about your own mortality and that’s one of the reasons I’m very grateful. We take life for granted and losing people makes you think that you really have to just enjoy the moment.”
Lulu was married to Bee Gee Maurice Gibb, who died in 2003, for four years and then to celebrity hairdresser John Frieda for 14 years before they split in 1991.
She’s spoken in the past about having a T-shirt at home with the word “Singleish” emblazoned on it.
Now when it comes to romance and dating she simply says: “I couldn’t be happier where I am right now.
“I don’t desire to be partnered up and I don’t desire to not be partnered up.
“Everything is how it’s meant to be. If there are changes to happen, they’ll happen.”
Her love of music aside, what makes Lulu happy is being a mum and a grandmother. Her son Jordan and his wife Alana have two children and being a doting gran to Bella, seven, and Teddy, five, fills her with joy.
They go to the same school and, one day a week, Lulu’s the one at the gates to pick them up in the afternoon.
“They have such busy schedules,” she says. “They have their football and gymnastics and their play dates.
“God gave me a big bonus when I got my grandchildren.”
As one of the nation’s most recognisable faces, Lulu’s used to constant attention, noticed wherever she goes. “My grandchildren find that really curious,” she admits. “Bella will say; ‘Why did that person talk to you nana? Does she know you?’
“They don’t quite understand it and they don’t really care either. That’s great.
“They have been to concerts but when I’m singing along to the radio in the car Bella will tell me not to as I spoil it. I’m obviously louder than everybody else.”
What the grandkids wouldn’t understand at all is a description of Lulu as a “national treasure”.
And it’s a label the singer, who came back to her home city for the recent Who Do You Think You Are? episode that revealed the truth behind why her mum was brought up by foster parents, just a bit awkward.
“I’m not known for being shy, but hearing that makes me slightly shy.
“There’s a part of me that thinks I don’t deserve it. I get embarrassed and I think people can be over-generous with me.
“It’s nice, though. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.”
Lulu’s tour will include six Scottish dates in November with gigs in Motherwell, Edinburgh, Lanark, Glenrothes, Inverness and Perth.
With a career spanning six decades she’s played just about everywhere before. While memories do come flooding back, that’s just on the day and yesteryear is not something she harks back to or dwells on.
“I live for the now,” she adds. “I always try and look at the glass being half-full, not half empty. That’s a great place to come from. When I was young I always felt I had to get somewhere, that I wasn’t good enough, and that I was running.
“Now it’s a bit different, although I still have the energy and I still feel like Speedy Gonzales.”
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