- Born
- Birth nameMarie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie
- Height5′ 1″ (1.55 m)
- Lulu Kennedy-Cairns was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie in Glasgow, Scotland on November 3, 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 To Sir, with Love (1967), starring Sidney Poitier, and performed the title song, which went to No. 1 in the United States, but was only released as a B-side in the United Kingdom 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 member Maurice Gibb, and moved more into family entertainment, building on the success of her self-titled BBC television show. She recorded a version of David Bowie's song "The Man Who Sold the World", which reached #3 in the UK charts (it hadn't charted for Bowie), and sang the title theme to the James Bond feature The Man with the Golden Gun (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 she released the hit album "Independence" (1993). She also penned, with her brother, "I Don't Wanna Fight", which was performed by Tina Turner on the soundtrack to What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), and at 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" (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. She was awarded Officer of the Order of the British Empire at the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to entertainment. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to entertainment, music, and charity.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Glc19Gareth@netscape.net
- SpousesJohn Frieda(October 1976 - 1995) (divorced, 1 child)Maurice Gibb(February 18, 1969 - August 21, 1975) (divorced)
- Children
- RelativesEdwina Lawrie(Sibling)Isabella Rose Frieda(Grandchild)
- Opening of her classic hit single "Shout" ("Weeeeeeeeeeeell...")
- Known for her powerful singing voice
- Originally, her classic song "To Sir with Love" was a B-side to the song "Let's Pretend". However, when the A-side failed to chart, American disc jockeys flipped the record and began playing the B-side, which went to #1 in 1967. She is the only British artist to have a #1 single on the American charts with a song that didn't even chart in the United Kingdom.
- Her mother was one of seven and was given away to a family called MacDonald who raised her.
- She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to entertainment.
- Lulu, Sheena Easton, and Shirley Manson are all Scottish artists who have sung 007 title songs, respectively for the films The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), For Your Eyes Only (1981), and The World Is Not Enough (1999) - none of which starred fellow-Scot Sean Connery as James Bond.
- Her recording of "To Sir With Love", from the movie of the same name, was the #1 best-selling single of 1967 in the United States. Despite its popularity, and the popularity of the film, the song was inexplicably absent from the list of Oscar nominees for Best Song that year, which was especially surprising because its lyricist, Don Black, had won the award the previous year for "Born Free".
- Botox - hasn't everyone had it? It's a poison, but then so is chocolate.
- I was raised in a flat in central Glasgow. I don't like to call the area a slum because I have an aversion to that word, but perhaps I'm being a bit oversensitive. My mother was very proud and everything in our tiny home was spotlessly clean and we had good blinds and nice furniture, but we never really had any money.
It was a huge issue for my mother and she used to hide wads of cash under the carpet and kitchen lino. We didn't move very often, but whenever we did we would lift the carpets and lino to take with us and we'd always find money under there. My mum was definitely a worrier and she left little sums of money to each one of us children, which was heartbreaking considering she'd never had anything.
For the first 25 years of my career I found it very difficult to refuse work - I emerged from my childhood with a good work ethic, but only because I was fuelled by the fear of not having enough. - Fear is unreasonable and sometimes it creeps up on you. I'm not a rich woman, I would say I'm comfortable, but I've heard rich people say they remain conscious of money because of their upbringing so maybe it stays with you forever. I don't think money makes anyone happy, but it gives you a freedom of choice. I have finally realised that I don't have to tour unless I want to.
- I'm not a natural saver. My mother used to take things to the pawnshop and my father never saved a day in his life so there was no example for me. They were unsophisticated and I had to learn to fend for myself. I've always made sure I've taken good advice.
- On the two occasions I've been married our finances were meshed together. We had separate bank accounts, but also a joint bank account.
Would I do it all differently if I got married again? I don't think I would get married again, but I suppose I should never say "never". I think I would do it differently because I now realise I was looking for a husband to be able to take responsibility for me. I've learnt to do that myself - the dream is unrealistic.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content