Lulu - Biography

Born in Glasgow in 1948. As a teenager, she toured the northern clubs with her band, "the Luvvers". After her initial success with a cover of "Shout" reaching #7 in 1964, Lulu went on to establish herself as one of the biggest-selling British female singers of the 1960s. She made her film début in Les anges aux poings serrés (1967), starring Sidney Poitier, and performed the title song, which went to No. 1 in the U.S., but was only released as a B-side in the UK with the A-side, "Let's Pretend", making #11. She was one of four joint winners of the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest with "Boom Bang-a-Bang". In 1969, she married The Bee Gees' Maurice Gibb, and moved more into family entertainment, building on the success of her self-titled BBC television show. After her divorce, she collaborated with David Bowie on the song, "The Man Who Sold the World," which reached #3 in the UK charts, and sang the title theme to the James Bond feature L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974), both in 1974.

After marriage to celebrity hairdresser John Frieda, with whom she had one son, Jordan Frieda, Lulu's career moved more into occasional adverts and pantomimes. The 1990s saw her divorce again and, in 1993, she released the hit album, "Independence". Along with her brother, she also penned the song, "I Don't Wanna Fight", which was performed by Tina Turner on the soundtrack to Tina (1993), and aged 44, she finally topped the UK charts with the British boyband, Take That, with a cover of "Relight My Fire". She went on to contribute to the soundtrack of the Tim Rice/Elton John musical, "Aida", in 1999, front her own short-lived prime-time UK lottery show on BBC TV, Red Alert with the National Lottery (1999), and starred in the film Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (1999).

In 2002, she released an album of duets entitled "Together", featuring the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Cliff Richard, Sting and Ronan Keating, along with a best-selling autobiography. In 2003, she released her "Greatest Hits" album, which débuted at #35 in the UK charts.