Lulu Kennedy-Cairns (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie; 3 November 1948) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, actress and television personality whose career has spanned six decades. Her debut single, a cover version of The Isley Brothers song "Shout", reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart in 1964. In 1967, she rose to international prominence after appearing in the film To Sir, with Love, singing the theme song, the melody written by Mark London, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States for five consecutive weeks and became America's biggest-selling single of 1967.
During the 1960s, she achieved another five top-ten hits on the UK Singles Chart, including "Boom Bang-a-Bang", which jointly won the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. From 1968–1973, she hosted her own television shows including Lulu's Back in Town (1968), Happening for Lulu (1968–1969) and It's Lulu (1970–1973). With a sought after powerful voice, she was commissioned in 1974 to perform the title song for the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. In 1993, Lulu had her first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart: "Relight My Fire", a collaboration with Take That.
In 2002, she achieved her most recent top-ten entry on the UK Singles Chart when her collaboration with Irish singer Ronan Keating, "We've Got Tonight", peaked at number four. She has released 15 studio albums, with Together (2002), being her highest-charting, peaking at number two on the Scottish albums charts and number four on the UK albums chart. The album was subsequently certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music, entertainment and charity.
Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was born at the maternity unit of Lennox Castle Hospital in Lennoxtown in 1948, and grew up in Glasgow, where she attended Thomson Street Primary School and Onslow Drive School. She lived in the Gallowgate area of the city for a while before moving to Garfield Street, Dennistoun. When she was 12 or 13, she and her manager approached a band called the Bellrocks seeking stage experience as a singer. She appeared with them every Saturday night. Alex Thomson, the group's bass player, said that even then her voice was remarkable. She has two brothers and a sister, and her father, who died at 71, was reportedly a heavy drinker. Aged 14, she received the stage name "Lulu" from her future manager Marion Massey, who commented: "Well, all I know is that she's a real lulu of a kid."
In August 2017, Lulu's family history was the subject of an episode in the UK series Who Do You Think You Are? The research showed that her mother had been brought up by another family. The investigation into her genealogy showed that Lulu's maternal grandparents had different religions. Her grandfather Hugh Cairns was a Catholic and her grandmother, Helen Kennedy, was a Protestant. Cairns had been a member of a Catholic gang and was found in the research to have been in and out of prison at the time of the birth of Lulu's mother. Kennedy was found to be the daughter of a Worthy Mistress of the Ladies' Orange Lodge 52. The discovery explained why the two families had opposed the union between Kennedy and Cairns.
In 1964, under the wing of Marion Massey, she was signed to Decca Records. While only fifteen, her version of the Isley Brothers' "Shout", credited to "Lulu & the Luvvers", and delivered in a raucous but mature voice, peaked at No. 7 on the UK chart. Massey guided her career for more than 25 years, for most of which time they were partners in business, and Massey's husband Mark London produced some of Lulu's recordings.
After the success of "Shout", Lulu's next charting single was "Leave a Little Love" in 1965, which returned her to the UK Top Ten. Her next record, "Try to Understand", made the Top 40.
In 1966, Lulu toured Poland with the Hollies, being the first British female singer to appear live behind the Iron Curtain. In the same year, she recorded two German-language tracks, "Wenn du da bist" and "So fing es an", for the Decca Germany label. All her Decca recordings were made available in 2009 on a 2-CD set entitled Shout!, issued on RPM Records. After two hit singles with the Luvvers, Lulu embarked on a solo career.
After failing to reach the chart in 1966, Lulu left Decca and signed with Columbia, to be produced by Mickie Most. She returned to the UK singles chart in April 1967, reaching No. 6 with "The Boat That I Row", written by Neil Diamond. All seven singles she cut with Mickie Most made the UK Singles Chart, ending with "Boom Bang-A-Bang" reaching number 2 in 1969. When Most died in 2003, Lulu was full of praise for him and told the BBC that they had been very close.
Lulu made her acting debut in 1967 To Sir, with Love, a British vehicle for Sidney Poitier. Lulu both acted in the film and sang the title song, with which she had a major hit in the United States, reaching No. 1. "To Sir with Love" became the best-selling single of 1967 in the United States. It sold well in excess of one million copies and was awarded a gold disc, being ranked by Billboard magazine as the number 1 song of the year. In the UK, "To Sir With Love" was released on the B-side of "Let's Pretend", a No. 11 hit.
In the late 1960s, Lulu's pop career in the UK thrived and she had several television series of her own. Her first BBC series aired in 1965 on BBC2, where she co-hosted Gadzooks! It's The In-Crowd, with Alan David, completing the run as solo host under the rebranded Gadzooks! In 1966, she made regular appearances on BBC1's Stramash! After appearing again on BBC2 in 1967, in a successful TV series Three of a Kind, that featured music and comedy, Lulu was given her own BBC1 TV series in 1968, which ran annually until 1975 under various titles, including Lulu's Back in Town, Happening for Lulu, It's Lulu and Lulu. The series often featured resident guests, including Adrienne Posta, Roger Kitter, Paul Greenwood and Pan's People, along with dance troupes choreographed by Nigel Lythgoe and Dougie Squires. The 1972 series was billed as It's Lulu... Not to mention Dudley Moore, with Dudley Moore and his trio appearing in each of the thirteen shows. Bernie Clifton was her resident guest for the last of the BBC series, airing from January to April 1975. Her BBC series included music and comedy sketches and appearances by star guests.
One episode, from January 1969, is remembered for an unruly live appearance from the Jimi Hendrix Experience. During that appearance, after playing about two minutes of "Hey Joe", Hendrix stopped and announced, "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in, dedicate to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce." Hendrix and his band then broke into "Sunshine of Your Love". The studio director signalled for Hendrix to stop, but he continued. Hendrix was told he would never work at the BBC again, but was unrepentant. He told his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham: "I'm not going to sing with Lulu. I'd look ridiculous."
Concurrently with her TV series, Lulu also hosted several "one-off" specials. They included Lulu At Bern's Restaurant in 1969, a show recorded in Sweden with the Young Generation, 1970's The Young Generation Meet Lulu (also recorded in Sweden), and Bruce Forsyth Meets Lulu in 1975.
On 29 March 1969, Lulu represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest, performing the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang", written by Peter Warne and Alan Moorhouse. The song was chosen from a selection of six by viewers of her BBC1 variety series Happening for Lulu, and on a special show hosted by Michael Aspel in which she performed all six one after another. One song, "I Can't Go On...", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, came last in the postcard vote but was later recorded by Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Polly Brown and Elton John himself, as well as by Lulu. In Madrid, Lulu was accompanied by Sue and Sunny while the orchestra was conducted by Lulu's musical director Johnny Harris. Lulu later recalled: