From the green, green land that is Scotland emerged one of Britain’s most enduring female vocalists and celebrities, the ever youthful Lulu. Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie on November 3rd 1948, Lulu hails from Lennoxtown, Glasgow and began her early steps towards stardom at the age of four, when she began singing publicly. But from a confident young girl was to surface a pop singer with a career spanning four decades, becoming one of the most recognised artists in her home country and selling millions of records around the world.
Not looking a day over 35, Lulu in 1999
When she had reached the age of fourteen, Lulu joined a local instrumental group the Gleneagles and together they performed late into the nights at clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Indeed, it was at one of these concerts that Lulu was discovered by the woman who was to become her manager and mentor who guided her to stardom, Marion Massey. Massey was taken aback by the sheer confidence the young performer exuded, although immediately it became apparent that a name change was required, Marie Lawrie and the Gleneagles wasn’t exactly catchy, so they instead contractually became Lulu and the Luvvers. Without Massey’s guidance and support it is very unlikely that Lulu would have ever succeeded in the music industry, as by her own admission she relied on her manager for much more than simply putting her name about to executives, in fact she almost became a surrogate mother as Massey’s protégée garnered increasing commercial success and fame.
[quote=left]Lulu: Since I was five, people had been coming up to me saying: ‘Stick with me, baby, and I’ll make you a star’. In fact, nobody ever did anything for me. Then Marion came along.[/quote]
Massey took the young star, having been groomed, to London to search for a record deal with the Luvvers. The first attempt was fruitless, with EMI turning them down. However EMI’s loss was Decca’s gain who immediately snapped them up. With a record deal under their belt, Lulu and the Luvvers went about producing their first single, a raw rendition of the Isley Brothers’ 1959 hit Shout. Lulu’s raucous vocals drew attention from the public exemplified by the single’s charting at number seven on the British singles charts. Although this was seemingly quite low the song wsa to define the early part of Lulu’s career and thereafter, perhaps remaining the most remembered of all of her recordings. One can still hear regular performances of those unforgettable opening seconds of the extended “Well” from playgrounds to karaoke bars today, the extent to which this is positive is of course a matter for another time.
Mickie Most was to become her hitmaker, although it wasn’t until 1965’s Leave A Little Love that she was to return to the British top ten. It was then that Lulu’s fledgling career hit troubled waters, requiring the first of her trademark comebacks, although notably she became the first British performer to perform behind the iron curtain with the Hollies in Poland. The cover of Neil Diamond’s The Boat That I Row saw her career surge in 1967, and saw her switch record companies to Columbia. Indeed, 1967 was to be a definitive year for Lulu, as she appeared in Sidney Poitier’s seminal picture To Sir, With Love. Winning many plaudits for her role, this was the first time she had acted, she remains famous in the United States almost solely as a result of the film’s success, she herself says that she is recognised there still after all these years. The theme tune from the film, widely and understandably considered to be her best work, became a million selling number one in the States, although in the United Kingdom it was shamefully tucked away as a b-side on the top twenty single Let’s Pretend.
[quote]James Clavell (Director of To Sir, With Love): This girl has a naturalness, a straightforward quality coupled with a really exciting personality, A very important movie quality indeed.[/quote]
After that career high, further hits ensued into 1968, including top ten, and ominously titled, hit I’m A Tiger. The BBC signed Lulu for not one but two TV series, similar to fellow sixties starlets’ Cilla Black’s, Sandie Shaw’s and Dusty Springfield’s successful shows, Lulu’s Back In Town and Happening To Lulu. These shows were a combination of musical numbers and slapstick comedy, proving popular among the television viewing public.
1969 was the year in which Lulu cemented her status as one of Britain’s most prominent female celebrities when she wed the Bee Gees’ Maurice Gibb. The couple’s marriage became one of the most discussed events of the year, although as with so many celebrity marriages it proved to be a short one after Gibb developed a drink problem. That said, the two remained friends, and Lulu was said to devastated by his death in 2003. The year also saw her being approached to sing the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, which the United Kingdom had won the previous year with Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String which had hit the number one spot in her home territory. In both ways however Lulu was second to Shaw’s success, being only the joint winner of the contest and reaching the number two spot in Britain. The painful Boom Bang-A-Bang was the song chosen by the public for Lulu to sing, a choice she herself lamented.
Lulu’s wedding with Maurice Gibb
As the 1970s dawned Lulu embarked on an American tour with Englebert Humperdink and co-host The Andy Williams Show with the recently deceased Ray Charles. In truth, her musical career had hit a difficult period, with her most recent single, 1969’s Oh Me Oh My (I’m A Fool For You Baby) only reaching a lowly number 47 on the British charts. As an entertainer however she found continued success with the BBC series It’s Lulu (co-starring Dudley Moore) and Lulu’s Party, both of which were successful for the Corporation. In addition, it was during this period that she was absurdly chosen as the subject for This Is Your Life at the age of 23. In 1974, after a five year absence from the music scene she switched record companies once more and underwent a reinvention of sorts, with David Bowie writing and producing The Man Who Sold The World, successfully covered by Nirvana in the 1990s. Her comeback was to prove a triumph, with the single reaching the top three, though it was also a short one. Only a year later the questionably titled follow-up Take Your Mama For A Ride failed to motivate record-buyers.
More importantly, 1974 saw Lulu perform the theme tune to Roger Moore’s second Bond outing, The Man With The Golden Gun. The film itself is usually considered as one of the weakest Bond entries, though it does have its supporters, despite Christopher Lee’s Scaramanga. Financially the picture failed to live up to its predecessor, with the movie often being criticised for lack of direction, a slow pace, an inferior screen play and the presence of Britt Ekland. The title song rarely fares much better, particularly when compared with the previous Live And Let Die and the following Nobody Does It Better. Lulu forceably screeches out the ill-chosen and trite lyrics, including, “Love is required whenever he’s hired, It comes just before the kill.” Self-referencing to the extreme, seldom a good decision, the theme sees Lulu’s voice exhibiting its characterisic power and raucousness, however here it doesn’t quite seem to work. Tellingly the song was never released as a single, only appearing on the film’s soundtrack and on Lulu’s greatest hits albums. On the other hand, some do view it as a decent and energetic pop song in keeping with the tone of the movie itself sung with panache, being a positive contribution to the long list Bond themes.
Lulu received an OBE in 2000
Again, she returned to the stage to consolidate her position as a live performer and in 1976 reacquainted herself with the tabloid press as a result of her marriage to high profile hairdresser John Freda. Their son, Jordan, was born the following year. What followed these happy personal events was a period of professional quiet, and into the 1980s she appeared sporadically on various television shows around the world. Indeed, she became more involved in television throughout the decade, notably playing Pauline in ITV’s highly rated The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole.
Musically, Lulu returned to the charts in 1986 with a disco reworking of her first hit, Shout. The song hit number eight, though it was an isolated success. 1993 brought about another reinvention with her Independence material, which included a top twenty hit of the same name. She also showed her talents as a songwriter, penning Tina Turner’s hit song I Don’t Wanna Fight Any More. However, in October of that year she was to famously hook up with one of the biggest bands of the moment, Take That. Relight My Fire stormed to the top of the charts, Lulu scoring her first number one at the age 44. A number of minor hits followed that success, and as in the past she was to return to television work. Sporting a new blonde look she fronted the BBC’s Red Alert show, in which she drew some unfavourable comparisons with Cilla Black, her old chart adversary (though real-life friend) who was on the same schedule on ITV with Blind Date. The show was not the success as hoped, and was dropped after one season.
On a brighter note, in 2000 Lulu was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her contribution to the entertainment industry. Her next project was a duets album Together, in which she sang alongside Elton John, Paul McCartney, Sting and newer artists such as Atomic Kitten and Samantha Mumba. The album was a hit, going gold in the United Kingdom, and from this came the number four duet with Ronan Keating We’ve Got Tonight. In 2003 Mercury released a definitive greatest hits collection which was heavily promoted by Lulu herself, a welcome change for her fans from the usual hastily released collections. Most recently, Lulu recorded an album of sophisticated rock-pop, Back On Track, which was met with generally enthusiastic reviews. She also embarked on her first tour for many years which was met with mixed reviews. Caroline Sullivan interestingly wrote in The Guardian, “Despite her 55 years, Lulu struck an intriguing balance between adolescence and maturity – dancing like a 16-year-old on an Egg McMuffin high, yet retaining a tea roadie to replenish the cup that sat decorously on a little stool; dressing like a Vegas nightmare, yet sulking at having to excavate uncool cabaret numbers.”
All told, Lulu is a true survivor whose appeal arguably straddles the generations in such a way that has allowed her to enjoy a long, if irregular, career. As with many of her contemporaries she has recorded her share of cheese (listen to My Boy Lollipop and you’ll catch my drift) however there are gems that continue to shine, be it To Sir, With Love (the song and the movie) or The Man Who Sold The World. In Bond terms, it seems highly unlikely that The Man With The Golden Gun will be considered a ‘classic’ theme, in the author’s opinion this is entirely justified with Lulu screeching over what sometimes sounds like a Seventies’ cabaret number. Very much a product of its time, unlike many other older Bond themes, the song sounds dated nowadays which seems to have been largely forgotten by the non-Bond fan public, unlike Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die and For Your Eyes Only amongst others. More important perhaps is that Lulu has risen above this, and proved to be a remarkable performer, with a genuinely gifted voice when used properly, who has remained in the public eye for four decades.
The Man With The Golden Gun Lyrics
