Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, November 3rd, 1948 in Lennox Castle, Scotland, Lulu had made her stage debut at the age of just nine...

Aged just 19, Lulu recorded “To Sir With Love”, the title theme from the movie in which she starred with Sidney Poitier. It quickly went to No.1 on the US charts, becoming the first hit by an artist from the UK to hit the top of the US charts without ever entering the British charts. The success of “To Sir with Love” brought her worldwide fame but before recording the song, she and her band The Luvvers, had hit the British Top ten with a cover of the Isley Brothers song “Shout”.

Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, November 3rd, 1948 in Lennox Castle, Scotland, Lulu had made her stage debut at the age of 9 singing at Bridgeton Public Hall and soon began appearing regularly with a local accordion band. At age 14 she began singing weekend gigs at Glasgow clubs and by 15 was a regular in that area with her group The Glen Eagles. In 1964 her group was renamed Lulu and the Luvvers when they hit the charts with “Shout”.

In 1966, Lulu went solo (and became the first British female act to perform behind the Iron Curtain – in Poland), then in 1967 she hit the British Top 10 again with Neil Diamond’s “The Boat That I Row”. That year, her performance in “To Sir With Love” garnered her rave reviews and her song went to Number 1.

In the late sixties Lulu worked both on TV and as a recording artist. Beginning in 1968 she hosted her own TV Special and it became an annual event that continued until 1975. In 1967 Lulu appeared with The Monkees on a concert tour of the UK, during which she had a brief romance with Davey Jones of the Monkees. It didn’t last long though and in 1969 she married Bee Gee Maurice Gibb (they divorced in 1973).

In March 1969, Lulu represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest and won with her performance of "Boom Bang-a-Bang", written by Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse. Then, with the production team behind the famous Muscle Shoals Recording Studio in Alabama, USA, Lulu recorded the song “Oh Me, Oh My, I’m a Fool For You Baby” in 1970; it became a top 30 hit in the USA and many other countries. In 1974 she performed the theme song for the James Bond film “The Man With The Golden Gun”.

In 1977 Lulu became interested in Siddha Yoga and married hairdresser John Frieda. They had one son, Jordan, but divorced in 1991.
Lulu’s career has seen her cover many and varied areas of performing; she hosted a long running radio show in London, performed in many British pantomimes, worked on the London stage with appearances in the early 1980s in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Song and Dance” and the Royal National Theatre’s “Guys and Dolls” and has continued to host various TV shows and specials.

One of her most famous, recurring roles is that of an unhappy public relations client of Edina Monsoon in the BBC television programme Absolutely Fabulous. Lulu has since teamed many times with the two women behind the show, Jennifer Saunders & Dawn French, for various fund-raising comedy performances.

In 2000, Lulu was made an OBE by Queen Elizabeth. Two years later, in 2002, Lulu published her autobiography titled “I Don’t Want to Fight”, named after the hit song that she and her brother wrote with hit songwriter Steve DuBerry for Tina Turner. Her 2002 gold album titled “Together” was a collection of duets with Elton John, Paul McCartney and others and many of those stars joined her for a TV Special called “An Audience with Lulu” which saw Lulu reunited with her first husband Maurice Gibb for a live performance of "First Of May”.

In November 2008 Lulu was announced as one of a number of Scottish celebrities to feature in the advertising campaign for a year-long event, “Homecoming Scotland”, to encourage people around the world with Scottish heritage to return to Scotland.

In January 2009, Lulu took her earlier Eurovision Song Contest experience to a role as an advisor/coach on the BBC show “Eurovision: Your Country Needs You”, helping to choose the singer to represent the UK at the 2009 Eurovision contest. In 2011 she competed in the UK version of “Dancing WithThe Stars”, known as “Strictly Come Dancing” but was eliminated in the sixth week.

Lulu is a big supporter of various charities including Hope For Children, www.hope-for-children.org and as a great friend of Elton John, The Elton John Aids Foundation, www.ejaf.org