Something to shout about Print E-mail
Written by Penny Kitchen, 2005   

On tour with Sir Elton John, presenting her own show on Radio 2 - the "wee lass with the big voice"; from Glasgow is doing well and looking great. Penny Kitchen talked to Lulu. 

I arrived at Claridges for my interview with Lulu on a sweltering hot day. The petite pop star had disappeared to freshen up, and suddenly she erupted noisily from the suite's bathroom. Introductions made, she grabbed my arm and headed back to the bathroom. "You must look at this. I just love Claridges!" she whooped, as we stood in the middle of the luxurious Art Deco grandeur of the room in question.

The metal towel rails and taps gleamed. The marble floor, the thick towels, the comfortably sunken bath, the understated elegance of a bygone era all spoke of 'class' and 'old money', of European royals and English aristocrats who once 'kept a suite' at London's premier establishment. Lulu stroked the fittings lovingly and laughed at herself for doing so.

Her delighted outburst spoke volumes about her. Lulu (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) may have come a long, long way from her modest roots as a butcher's daughter in Lennoxtown, Glasgow, but she doesn't take nice things for granted.

There is a gravelly edge to her speaking voice that is immediately identifiable as the voice that belted out "Shout!" over 40 years ago. Energy radiates from her 5-foot-nothing frame and her perfect figure was shown off in a pair of jeans and denim jacket over a flower print blouse.

Like Cliff, Mick and Elton, Lulu has been around the UK pop scene for a long time, evolving musically and gathering another generation of fans along the way. Her programme about songwriting and songwriters on Radio 2 has brought her a new audience and has coincided with her own newfound confidence to write songs.

She has been touring with Sir Elton John this summer and in August 2005 released a new album called A Little Soul in Your Heart, a tribute to Lulu's favourite singers from Otis Redding and Sam Cooke to Doris Troy and Betty Everett. Amazingly, her energy and high-voltage career that began in the 1960s seems undiminished in 2005.

One of my first jobs on a teenage magazine in 1968 had been to put together a profile of Lulu. No actual interview had been possible because she was being feted in the US for her performance in To Sir with Love and was enjoying the success of her four-million-selling hit single of the same name.

By the end of 1967 she had already 'made it', aged not yet 20. Her first public singing appearance had been at the age of four at a Coronation party, and by the time she made To Sir with Love, she had had hits with "Shout", "Here Comes the Night", "Leave a Little Love", "Love Loves to Love Love" and many more.

She had become the first female British singing star to perform behind the Iron Curtain; had toured with the Monkees; been on The Royal Variety Show and had appeared on numerous television programmes both here and in the US.

Concert and cabaret engagements on both sides of the Atlantic followed, as well as television series, awards and more pop hits.

She was headline news in 1969 when she won the Eurovision Song Contest - and when she married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, a group whose song-writing genius became an inspiration to her years later, along with her friend Elton John.

The marriage ended in divorce after four years, but Lulu's career flourished. The 1970s and 1980s saw a string of tours, more TV shows on both sides of the Atlantic and a triumphant return to Las Vegas. She became the subject of This is Your Life at the age of only 23. Another milestone at this time was her marriage to John Frieda and the birth of their son Jordan in 1977.

Her CV is exhausting to read, never mind perform. Yet unlike some of today's young 'fabricated' pop stars, Lulu thrives on live performance. "It was how I began and I still love it." At that point, her mobile phone rang. "It's a good friend of mine and it's her birthday," Lulu said apologetically, before treating her friend on the other end of the line - and me - to a spirited rendition of "Happy Birthday"!

In answer to my next question of how does she keep her voice in such good shape, she replied: "The best form of voice exercise for me is working!" She doesn't consider a second tour this summer as 'punishing' or 'exhausting', but as a brilliant opportunity to relaunch herself, on her own musical terms. No more singing what other people think she should sing.

She looks fit, healthy and relaxed, despite her assertion that city life contributes to higher stress levels: "Just getting from A to B in London can be incredibly stressful." So how, at the age of 57, does she look so good? No wonder, I said, she was asked to front a campaign for women's heart health!

"I think it's important to be conscious of health - not morbidly concerned, but aware of your body and to listen to what it's telling you," she said. "I'm not obsessed but I am incredibly disciplined. People ask me how I've lasted so long in the music industry and I think that is the secret - I have self-discipline and I take good care of myself.

"When I was young I could eat a curry and a bar of chocolate and go straight on stage and perform and I didn't feel any effects at all. I could eat anything - that's what it's like when you're young. Someone like Charlotte Church who has started smoking and going a bit wild won't feel any effects. She's young.

"I don't say that my attitude has changed because I'm getting old: no, it's wisdom, a consciousness that I can no longer ignore, that's all. It's like - hello, listen to your body's messages."

Lulu eats "90 per cent organic food" to avoid the hormones she believes are harmful, and because she lives in London she is acutely aware of pollution, blaming it for the high incidence of asthma.

"One or two years ago I was convinced I had asthma and even today I get unexplained bouts of sneezing and sinus problems - it's got to be pollution, doesn't it? At one point it got so bad I was going to take one of those sprays, but I never did. I spent a week recently in Austria and I couldn't believe the wonderful air there. No pollution."

When two close friends suggested Lulu get her cholesterol checked, she paid scant attention, but was reminded of their concern when she read an article by Dr Stuttaford in The Times on a flight to the US last year. She resolved to do something about it, conscious that her father had suffered a fatal heart attack. "The doctor in America said I should try to get my cholesterol down, especially in view of my father's heart problems. Well, I wasn't going to argue with him!"

When her doctor back in the UK confirmed this finding, he suggested she look to see what was different about her eating habits and lifestyle that could be contributing. "I realised that I was replenishing the ice cream in the freezer a lot more frequently, that for some reason I had started eating butter and that since suffering a bout of pneumonia a year ago, I had not exercised as much as previously.

"I think about how I look and feel now and I realise that this insidious process could be happening to any woman. I've always been keen on alternative therapies and prevention rather than cure and this is how I look at my diet. Like everyone else, I get tired and I want to eat chocolate or crisps and the things that are bad for me, but today my body's adverse reaction to these things is much quicker."

Her physical health in good shape, Lulu has great plans for the future, which include more songwriting. "There are a million things I wish I'd done differently in my life," she said. "I certainly don't regret not carrying on with acting - I never thought of myself as an actress. But I wish I'd had more children. I also wish I hadn't been scared of songwriting and started so late.

"Still, having said that, I can't complain about my life. I've worked with so many talented people, all of whom have played a part in my success."
 
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