Two, three, four. # Ooh ooh
# Ooh ooh... #
So there's just three of us. Is there more than three?
# Still the one... # Yeah, that's nice.
# ..Still the one... # That's nice.
# We're still having fun Cos you're still the one. #
That's nice. Do it again. # Ohhh... #
July 2011. Lulu is in final rehearsals for a series of concerts in the UK.
After five decades in show business, she's still going strong.
Now that's something to shout about.
# Well...
# You know you make me wanna shout... #
Lulu has been part of the fabric of British popular culture since
she exploded onto the music scene with her first hit back in 1964,
and now, at the age of 62, she shows no sign of slowing down.
She looks like a million bucks. She sounds like a million bucks.
She's got all the energy in the world. She's fun. She's funny.
Oh, she's just begun.
# The boat that I row won't cross no ocean
# The boat that I row won't get me there soon. #
It's the spirit of Lulu that is incredible. She's forever young.
She has this incredible zest for life.
Lulu's kind of always been around.
I think probably a lot of people in the UK feel like that.
She's really a national treasure.
You've had a lovely long career, haven't you? Yes.
Longer than Cliff's. Sir Cliff.
Sorry. I bow to you here. And you worked with Take That. Yes.
Frankly, I'd cut my right leg off for that opportunity. Yeah.
# Relight my fire... #
Not only has she constantly adapted to changes in musical style and fashion,
Lulu was one of the first artists to realise the power of celebrity branding.
People love her. She's still got a great voice. That's not gone away.
# You got me begging You got me begging
# You got me begging Oh... #
When you know it's come from that little package,
it's astonishing.
And she still has the power today.
If Lulu turned up on a programme like Pop Stars or Pop Idol,
she would win it.
# To sir
# With love... #
I think in terms of the soul singing, she's probably one of our best soul singers.
You know, I mean, she's bad.
To me, she's royalty.
Lulu has never been seen as just a singer.
For a whole generation, she's best remembered for having her own
Saturday night light entertainment shows in the '60s and '70s.
Hello, everybody.
I'm 64. I'm older than her. I can't believe I'm still older than Lulu.
I was watching her when I was at school and I'm still older.
# Good laughter, joy and happiness We're advanced girls
# With a song And a dance. #
This is the story of Lulu, a woman who since becoming a child star
at the age of 15, has blazed a trail for female artists,
constantly facing battles for control of her career.
I think I'm doing much more of the kind of stuff that I did when I started,
not like in the sort of like my 20s, you know,
when I was on television doing Saturday night TV shows.
It's much more about the music.
Lulu has returned to her home town of Glasgow,
the city she first left 47 years ago to perform a concert,
to revisit the streets where she grew up, and to talk frankly about
the ups and downs of a life spent under the show business spotlight.
I'm here for a big gig,
erm, tomorrow called Tall Ships.
So that should be fun.
You know, once I get on that stage, everything's great.
At 7pm the following day, Lulu and her band arrive at the venue.
Before I go on stage, I actually like to have some quiet time,
because I've got to gather my energy and be focused.
I like to be left alone to put my make-up on, to fix my hair
and get myself ready.
I'm looking forward to getting on. It's a long wait to get on, you know.
It's always good to actually get on the stage.
# Yeah, yeah, yeah Still the one. #
I like to get together with the boys and the band
and just sing something and have them harmonise first,
then I'm working myself, I'm ready to go, you know.
That's kind of a religious part of my performance.
Whenever we're in Scotland, the crowd really warms to her,
so it should be a lot of fun.
I'm really pumped now.
Yeah, let's go, let's go, let's go.
It's always hard to impress the Scots.
There's part of me that wants to please them, that wants to be good
for them to say, "Oh, you know, she has not lost it,"
that kind of thing.
Lulu's set list for the concert will include many of her greatest hits
along with some soul classics.
How you all doing out there? CHEERING
I said how's everybody doing out there?
Ladies and gentlemen,
we've got an absolute true British icon for you.
I want everyone here to go absolutely crazy
for the legend that is Lulu!
CHEERING
MUSIC: "Relight My Fire"
# Yeah, you got to be strong enough to walk on through the night
# Yeah
# There's a new day out on the other side
# Yeah
# You got to have hope in your soul
# Just keep on walking Keep on walking
# Whoa oh-oh Yeah, yeah
# Strong enough to walk on through the night
# Day on the other side
# Hope in my soul
# Just keep on walking Keep on walking, baby
# Relight my fire
# Yeah, relight my fire
# Your love is my only desire
# Relight my fire
# Cos I need...
# Oh, I need
# Yeah, I need...
# Your love! Your love! Your love! I need your love! #
I've lived in London for 47 years, but in my heart
it's kind of, I don't know what is my essence,
the essence has got a lot to do with being Scottish.
I'm...
very proud of being Scottish.
Lulu was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie
in Glasgow on 3rd November 1948.
My father worked in the meat market.
My mother didn't have a job.
She used to work, I think, sometimes in factories.
I came from a working-class family.
And I'm proud of it.
This is Garfield Street.
This is where I lived until I was 15 years old
and it looks very posh.
The buildings have all been kind of cleaned.
My parents had hard lives.
Their relationship was volatile
and there was a lot of fighting and screaming
and you never knew what was going to happen from one minute to the other.
And then there's the memories
of my father coming home from work,
having had, you know, a wee bit too much to drink.
If I hadn't actually gone to pick him up myself,
cos my mother would say, "Look at the time. Go and get him,"
and I'd say, "Is my daddy there?"
"Hey, look, you're not allowed in here."
"I'm looking for my daddy."
"Eddie, what you doing here?"
"My mammy says you've got to come home."
Lulu was the eldest of four children,
two girls and two boys, the second child was Billy.
Our upbringing was...tough,
you know, there was a lot of friction, there was a lot of anger.
But at the same time, you know, they were...
they were very loving, you know, in their way.
This was the best playground for any kid.
I was very, very, very young when I could sing with a big voice -
I had a voice like a foghorn, my father said.
So I knew I had something.
I used to sing in the street, do my stuff, and everybody knew.
I didn't feel awkward or anything because everybody knew me.
My education, my music education, it wasn't formal,
but it was about hearing
sort of records that weren't available to the public,
the sailors, they would bring the music in
and that's how we'd get to hear all that great music.
# ..Cos it brings back memories... #
From the age of 12, Lulu was singing professionally
at American Air Force bases and ballrooms around Glasgow.
Having grown up singing songs by the likes of Connie Francis,
she now began mimicking then-obscure new artists
whose records came off the ships, like Aretha Franklin.
# ...He's talking right away... #
I never thought I could sing like Aretha, but there's certain inflections
and there's a certain tone of the voice
that I would obviously kind of try to get.
# He lied
# Darling, I love you
# I wanna tell you, he lied
# Darling, I...
# And, baby, you lied You lied, you lied. #
I wasn't into anything British. It was American music I liked.
Gospel, R&B, like Otis Redding.
The same artists that influenced Lulu during her formative years
are still a major influence today.
Basically, it's torture in here because it's so hot.
For her Glasgow concert, Lulu is rehearsing songs made famous
by one of her favourites, Otis Redding.
# Ooh, she may be weary
# Young girls they do get weary
# Wearing the same old shabby dress
# But when she gets weary
# You've got to try a little tenderness
# You won't regret it
# Young girls they don't forget it
# Love is their whole happiness
# Yeah
# But when she gets weary
# You've got to try a little tenderness
# That's all you've got to do. #
Lulu had always been very grown-up for her age
and she sang like an adult and that was the thing. From square one,
she sounded like an adult and she thought that way too, you know.
She wasn't interested in school really.
She was interested in singing.
It was obvious that's what she was going to do.
She'd such a passion for it.
Anything to get up and sing. I just...loved it.
And I still do.
# You gotta squeeze her Tease her
# Oh...
# Try a little tenderness
# You've got to put her on your shoulder, yeah, yeah
# You've got to squeeze her
# Tell her that you'll never, never, never ever leave her
# Oh Try a little tenderness
# That's all you've got to do, yeah. #
That was my fantasy. Just singing.
Take me into another world.
Still does and it still does.
I think success was always the dream but it was a dream.
I certainly wasn't thinking I've got to get out of Glasgow, go somewhere else.
I just wanted to sing but there was any opportunity that I could get to,
you know, sing with my band, and I was 14 at the time, there was a competition
and I was in the competition and I got through,
and then I got to go to London, I got a recording contract.
The record came out, I had a hit record,
it was like boom, boom, boom, boom!
Erm, amazing, really.
# You know you make me wanna shout Look my hand's jumping
# Look my heart's thumping Throw my head back
# Come on now... #
Lulu's debut single Shout was released in 1964.
She'd recorded the song when she was just 14,
but because of the child labour laws,
the record's release was held back until after her 15th birthday.
Prior to the record's release,
Marie became Lulu and her band, The Lovers.
# ..Say that you love me Say that you need me
# Say that you want me Ain't gonna leave me
# Come on now
Come on now... #
The record would storm into the top ten
and remains one of the most memorable debut singles of all time.
I was a big R&B fan
and I knew the Isley Brothers' version of that song very well,
but this little girl from Scotland, there she was on the television,
and this huge voice coming out of her
and it was the most soulful voice and I was blown away,
and I think everybody who saw her at that time just couldn't believe it.
I was shocked because there was this voice
that just came out of nowhere and then you suddenly realise
it's this little girl from Glasgow
and she had this incredible voice, very American to a certain degree.
It was only when I met her that I realised
she was this ball of energy, she was this Little Miss Dynamite.
When we heard Shout, we thought, "This is fantastic."
We thought, "How can someone that young sing like that?"
# You know you make me want to shout
# Whoo, shout Whoo. #
The success of the record would turn Lulu's world upside down, and soon
she was saying goodbye to Garfield Street and hello to swinging London.
I thought Glasgow was huge.
It was the world to me,
but then when I came to London, I couldn't believe how big it was.
The whole of the world was focused on swinging London, you know.
And I was in the middle of it.
This was the time where Britain was controlling entertainment
around the world with the Mersey Sound and all the groups.
I think everybody felt that, you know, there is nothing stopping us becoming huge stars.
The Beatles had gone to America and conquered America. Every one of us can do this.
And whether you came from Glasgow, like Lulu, or Liverpool like me,
you know, you just thought, "The world's my oyster here."
In Glasgow, people were footballers, boxers,
they were musicians, to give them a different life.
Now I see how lucky I was, but I don't think I planned it.
What I did do was I took the opportunities,
because when I left Glasgow I used to cry myself to sleep.
I mean, it was scary because, you know, I was 14, 15 years old,
but I wouldn't go home.
# Hey-eh eh-eh Hey-eh eh-eh
# Hey-eh eh-eh. #
My mother said that if she'd had stopped me going to London then,
she knows that I would have held it, been angry with her,
and I would have done it anyway later.
It became clear very early on,
especially with the speed it was happening for Lu,
the rate the success was coming,
that who was going to look after this 14, nearly 15-year-old girl?
The job of looking after Lulu would fall to her manager, Marian Massey.
The first time I saw Lulu,
I was absolutely knocked out
with this little girl
who positively erupted onto the stage.
She actually...was very maternal towards me,
which was an incredible thing for a 14-year-old girl.
She was so confident and she had such a terrific voice.
She was a star. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever.
Marian absolutely believed in me 150%.
She thought I could do anything, but it was very turbulent
with my mother and I for a long time,
and because of my relationship with Marian.
And as a mother, I understand it.
As a teenager, I just thought she was unreasonable
and I couldn't get it,
that she had sort of lost me.
# Well, I want you to leave a little love
# In my heart
# Leave a little love so when we part... #
18 months after arriving in London,
Lulu's record company decided to repackage her as a solo artist.
Her backing band, The Lovers, became surplus to requirements.
Lulu would have little say in the new direction her career was about to take.
As soon as I dropped the band,
then I became a much more middle of the road artist.
I was really in the hands of much older people
and I didn't write my own material,
so they tried to find songs for me.
Got a top line, have a listen to this.
I think it's...a smash, as they say.
Now it's a whole different marketplace.
A lot of girl singers like Adele
will have written most of her own material.
In those days that wasn't so common.
You didn't really... kind of get that
until the Joni Mitchells of this world came along in the '70s,
but mostly, in the '60s, Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Dusty,
all relied on songwriters.
# Sun shines bright on my veranda Had a lot of luck
# But I've a plan to
# Find the only thing that never came my way. #
Enlisted to find songs for Lulu
was the man with the Midas touch, legendary pop producer, Mickie Most.
There should be a statue erected to Mickie Most. He was a genius.
He had great ears and you know, some people have just got
this God-given gift for whatever,
and Mickie just could listen to a song and I know as a songwriter,
I used to go round to him and play him maybe a dozen songs,
and he would take them off straightaway off the record player.
He'd say, "No, no, no."
Then he'd hear a few bars of another song and he'd say yes, straightaway.
# I'm a tiger
I'm a tiger... #
One of the many songs that Mickie Most chose to produce for Lulu was I'm A Tiger.
Despite it becoming a top-ten hit, it was a far cry from the soul
and rhythm and blues songs that Lulu wanted to sing.
I would have rather sang songs that
had more of a gravel, raw edge to them.
I had an inner struggle with a lot of stuff I had hits with.
# ..Might make you think and change your mind. #
# I'm a tiger I'm a tiger. #
Well, maybe she hates it but she was so cute in that video.
She had this really coquettish series of looks for the camera,
which was, I'm sure she had men hot under the collar
and the girls wondering how they could get that look.
I'm definitely overacting,
and how cheap was it to do this film?
One camera, one stuffy and one poor...tiger
pacing up and down behind me and listening to me.
Anybody could have sung this song, you know,
and I kind of wanted to sing different things.
This is the kind of song that my record producer would say,
"This is going to be a hit, you've got to do it."
And I would do it.
And I'm overacting like such... God, the faces. Oh, my goodness.
# I'm a tiger... #
I was very young.
I mean, Mickie was amazing.
He was a hit-maker but I kind of wanted someone who could,
you know, understand my soul. Don't get me wrong,
if I wouldn't have been with people like Mickie,
I may have been forgotten and lost
and you know, never have lasted this long.
Today, unlike the early part of her career,
Lulu now controls everything,
from the songs she sings to the people she works with.
Lulu calls the shots,
even down to choreographing the stage moves of her backing singers.
Do you know what?
I like what he just did. He just did this. He just did...
SHE HUMS MUSIC
Something like that, do it. Do it again. I like that.
SHE HUMS MELODY I like it, cool.
How comes he does it wrong and...?
I didn't know that. I was just...
The fact that he did it wrong and it looked good,
means it's now right.
# I can't turn you loose, yeah
# If I do I'm gonna lose my mind, babe
# I'm never gonna turn you loose
# If I do I'm gonna lose my life
# You know I can't turn you loose
# For nobody Cos I love you, love you, baby
# Yes, I do Yes, I do
# Hip-shakin' papa I told you I'm in love
# With only you Come on now
# Do it to me, baby Why don't you?
# I want to give you everything you want... #
Every musician I've ever worked with and introduced her to,
come away going, "She's the real deal, you know, she's amazing."
She'll be demanding, but never a hard time though.
It's always done with a good heart, you know.
# Hey, I can't turn you loose... #
She's pretty cool, isn't she?
Pretty cool, yeah. Very cool, yeah. She doesn't shout at you, yet.
We'll just have to wait and see. That'll come.
Wait till you get to the show.
She's going to get really Glasgow on us.
No, she's awesome. Brilliant. She's really nice. Great person.
Even when I was a teenager,
I would be very bossy with the band about what I needed,
and what I would like.
So I think today, because I've had so much experience,
they listen to me. And, you know, I'm paying their wages,
they'll listen to me, of course. SHE LAUGHS
MUSIC: "I Can't Turn You Loose"
# I can't turn you loose, yeah
# If I do I'm going to lose my mind, babe
# I'm never going to turn you loose, papa
# If I do I'm going to lose my life
# No, I can't turn you loose for nobody
# Cos I love you, baby Love you, baby
# Yes, I do Yes, I do
# Hip-shakin' papa, I told you How I love only you
# Come on now, give it to me, baby Why don't you?
# I'm going to give you everything you want
# Yeah, baby now
# Never going to turn you loose, whoa... #
I don't like to be just the only one out front.
I like to get singers on stage that'll come forward.
I'm always saying to my band, "Come forward. Don't stand up there.
"Don't look at your feet. Come forward, be with me at the front.
SHE GIGGLES "I'm lonely at the front."
Get down here.
# Never going to stop me now... #
Whenever you see Lulu, whether it's footage from the old days
or whether it's live now,
you still get a tingle up your spine because she still has that ability
to get an audience in the palm of her hand and just excite you.
In the end, it is to do with singing
and whether she's standing by the microphone in the studio singing,
or singing live on stage moving around, she still sounds great.
She is still a Little Miss Dynamite.
# Turn loose, turn loose... #
She makes it look effortless as well.
I don't know how effortless it is,
probably quite because she had that voice from such a young age.
What's equally amazing is she still has the power.
# ..Turn loose, yeah. #
Just love it. I love to perform.
Yeah, it just gets me going. It gets me out of bed. It gets me moving.
Oh, I hope you had a good time tonight.
Well, Lulu, what do you hope to do in your 20s
when you're no longer a teenager?
Well, somewhere round about my 20s, I'd like to be married,
and I'd like to have kids, you know.
But I'd still like to be a singer.
In fact, I think I'd like to do some films.
You mention films, have you done any lately?
Well, there is something in the offing but I can't just say yet.
Lulu's ambition was realised when she auditioned for a part
in the upcoming British movie, To Sir With Love.
The film tells the story of an American teacher
who has to confront the harsh realities of teaching in a tough East London school.
I got the part. Wasn't much of a part.
But there I was with all these little actresses and actors,
young teenage, and they were all
so excited that I was in the film with them because I was a pop star.
I was nervous because I'm not an actress.
The thing about acting is you can either do it or you can't,
and she could do it first off,
and because she has a good ear,
she could pick up on the cockney that she had to do for the movie.
Shut up. Look, sir, when can we go? There's no time after school
and I've got to look after the kids and flat and all.
I have to do the housework and get the supper for the lodgers
and all that, sir.
I decided I was not going to be the odd one out.
I wasn't going to be the singer.
I wasn't going to be the Scottish person.
I was going to be like, I wanted to be like them.
17-year-old Lulu's first time acting role in the movie,
cast her alongside Sidney Poitier,
one of Hollywood's all-time great actors.
But as this scene shows, she appeared totally undaunted.
Never be afraid to experiment.
And always remember that you can eat well even though you're broke, see.
You ever been broke, sir? Real broke, skint?
Yeah, many, many, many times.
Oh, I don't understand you a bit, sir.
I mean, you're a toff and you ain't.
Huh?
Sir, what he means is...
Blimey, I can't sort of put it into words or anything.
Well, sir, you're like us but you ain't - I mean, you're not.
It's kind of scary but nice, you know what I mean, don't you?
Movies were vehicles for rock-and-roll singers.
Yeah, Elvis kicked off that whole thing
but it was a chance for us, and in this case, Lulu,
to be in a film that was recognised as a serious movie, dealing with
a particular serious topic, you know, how kids behave at school.
So for her to get that role must have been a fantastic treat for her.
She must have loved every minute of it. I had no idea.
I was in a film with a great famous actor and it was about a teacher.
I mean, he was black, you know,
he was dealing with...
kids from the East End and teaching them about America.
What did I know? I didn't know that Sidney Poitier was doing
his thing the way Martin Luther was doing his thing in America
for black people and equality.
Sidney Poitier was doing it on film.
Do you think it's wrong to change, to be different, to rebel, sir?
It is your duty to change the world if you can,
not by violence. Peacefully, individually, not as a mob.
Sidney worked with us so brilliantly.
There's an end scene where Lu sings the title song
and Sidney made James Clavell shoot the reaction shot,
one time only, and at the end of this number,
we were all crying our eyes out and if you actually watch the movie -
watch the movie -
if you watch the movie, we're crying our eyes out,
we couldn't have acted that way unless it was absolutely real,
and Sidney knew that we were inexperienced
and so he was there for us.
# A friend who taught me right from wrong
# And weak from strong
# That's a lot to learn
# What can I give you in return?
# If you wanted the moon I will try to make a start
# But I would rather you let me give my heart
# To sir with love. #
I wasn't sure about the song when I first heard it.
Eventually, I grew to love it. But the success it had was unbelievable.
It was unparallelled, really, at that time.
And it made her a big star in America.
And that's when I started to really pay attention to her,
because it was a great song and then she executed it very well.
In fact, a lot of black people thought it wasn't me singing.
They thought it was somebody, a black person singing,
that was like, "Whoa! What a compliment!"
And yeah, it was amazing.
To Sir With Love was enormous in America.
It went to number one and it stayed there, I think, for five weeks.
It was a huge... I think I got the Billboard award for it,
many awards came.
To Sir With Love was only ever a B-side in the UK,
but its popularity in the USA endures to this day.
So much so that when Lulu appeared
as a mentor on American Idol in 2007,
this was the song she was asked to perform.
But being Lulu,
she didn't want to do it in the same way she did back in the '60s.
I got Barry Manilow to give it a kick up the backside for me.
She said if I have to sing To Sir With Love in that same arrangement
that I did when I was 18 years old, I'm going to shoot myself.
Can you possibly just beef it up a little? I said, "Sure."
So I gave her this new arrangement
which had much more energy and now that I knew what she could do,
I went all the way with this arrangement, and she sang it
on American Idol and blew the house down. I was so happy for her.
# If you wanted the moon I would try to make a start
# But I would rather you let me give my heart
# To sir with love. #
That's the way I do it now
and I love it, you know, and I hit, you know, I go right up, you know,
to the top of my range, full voice,
chest, voice, you know, which is thrilling to do.
# ..To sir with love... #
# Some people live within the world And some people live without it
# Some people got to whisper their love
# But some they've got to shout it
# One thing they have in common is They all talk a lot about it
# Everybody wants it or has it or holds it
# But as for me I doubt it
# Love loves to love love to love love to love. #
During 1967, London was in full swing
and Lulu was at the centre of the party scene.
If you saw Lulu at the party, she was a clean machine.
You know, there was nothing going on with her.
She always had that kind of reputation of being,
one would have said at that time, maybe a little prim, you know.
# ..Love loves to love love To love love to love... #
I was embarrassed that I didn't get up to all the tricks that everybody was getting up to.
I didn't want anyone to know that I wasn't doing it,
but I wouldn't do it and it was very awkward. It was very awkward.
# I don't have a lot but with me that's fine
# Whatever I got Well, I know it's mine, hey
# I don't go around with the local crowd
# I don't dig what's in so I guess I'm out. #
I could talk and I thought I looked like I was pulling it off,
but for sure, everybody could see I was not cool
in the slightest, and I was, you know, a naive little teenager.
# But I got the love if you got the notion
# The boat that I row is big enough for two
# Me and you. #
My hormones are raging, but I was terrified, you know.
I wasn't really looking to jump into bed with anybody.
I was frightened to death.
You don't have sex until you're married.
My mother, "Oh, it's only for the men."
That was my mother.
You can imagine what I was thinking about sex.
"Oh, no, I don't want to go there!"
In 1969, after a chance meeting on Top Of The Pops,
and a whirlwind romance, Lulu married Bee Gee Maurice Gibb.
You'd think in the '60s, I could have just lived with him but no, we had to get married.
I was 19 years old and I think she'd just turned 20, and it was...
actually the wedding of the year in England at that time.
I wore this white suit with blue shirt
and she actually had a mink thing on her hood.
I suppose, you know, when Lu married Maurice Gibb,
they were possibly the first celebrity couple.
They were the Beckhams of their day.
She couldn't drive down the street, get near the church.
People were screaming. It was like, "Whoa!"
It reminds me a little bit of what the Big Brother,
coming out the Big Brother house.
We were kind of like pop prince and princess, you know,
a bit deluded, you know.
Think I'm on top of the world, I can do anything, you know,
I can make this happen, I can make this work.
# Everybody's got to clap
# To the sound of the music. #
During 1971, Maurice appeared with Lulu on Top Of The Pops,
performing Everybody Clap, a song he wrote and produced for her.
On the surface, everything seemed rosy,
but their commitment to show business was putting a strain on their relationship.
I think the biggest problem is anybody in this business,
if they're in the same business,
and they're focused as much as each other, it's like ships in the night,
and it's not as easy to get on as you'd think it would be.
It was a fantasy.
I mean, we were two lonely, erm...
..kids, who could totally relate to each other
and thought we could get married and stay married, you know,
not emotionally grown-up in any way, shape or form.
Babies, two little babies thinking they could play a grown-up game.
It was a shame, very sad, very upsetting.
Very upsetting.
# ..But you and I Our love will never die ... #
Lulu and Maurice divorced in 1973, yet remained friends and, in 2002,
they duetted on the TV special, An Audience With Lulu.
Oh, my God, that was tough.
That was tough. He died not long after that.
His wife said, "You know, it was kind of sweet that you did that."
She said, "You sort of closed the circle," she felt.
I struggled with it.
But in a way I'm sort of OK with it now.
# ..Don't ask me why The time has passed us by
# Someone else moved in
# From far away... #
Ladies and gentlemen, Maurice Gibb.
Thank you. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Hello, everybody
# Glad to be
# Meeting you again on your TV
# And I hope you feel the same as me... #
If you do, stick around for the next 25 minutes.
In 1968, Lulu was offered her own Saturday night TV show on the BBC.
With viewing figures often in excess of 20 million,
Saturday night TV was the place to be.
In the '60s, pop stars, the Cilla Blacks, the Sandie Shaws,
were all moving into this other area of becoming entertainers.
They sort of knew that, you know,
it's a very short life as a pop star,
so they really did want to become family entertainers,
and Lulu on a Saturday night was an entertainer.
# I want to be famous A star of the screen
# But you can do something in between
# Baby, you can drive my car... #
My manager told me this is an amazing opportunity.
She wanted to build a career for me
and she really wanted me to be a family entertainer.
So... CHUCKLES
this was a challenge that I was up for.
# I could have danced all night
# And still have begged for more
# And I could have spread my wings
# And done a thousand little things
# Lord, I'd never done before... #
Over the next eight years, Lulu became a fixture
of Saturday night TV, establishing her as a household name.
Les, do you know what we can do? Let's both sing a cheerful song.
If you insist. But remember, Les, happy, happy, happy. What else?
# When you're feeling sad and blue
# Sing root toot toot tooty-too
# And you'll feel much worse. #
Saturday night TV in those days was a strange place.
Lulu could just as likely be rubbing shoulders with comedian Les Dawson
as rock legend Jimi Hendrix.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn't know,
Jimi and the boys won, in a big American magazine called Billboard,
the group of the year, and they're going to sing for you now, Hey Joe.
When the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared on the Lulu show
in January of 1969, Jimi abandoned the pre-rehearsed Hey Joe
and surprised everyone with an impromptu version
of Cream's Sunshine Of Your Love.
We're going to stop playing this rubbish and dedicate a song to Cream.
Regardless of what kind of group they might be in,
we'd like to dedicate it to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce.
HE PLAYS "SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE" RIFF
He'd heard that Cream were splitting up
and he just wanted to do a tribute to Cream
and he did Sunshine Of Your Love,
but it was live on the BBC and everyone was like, "You can't do that!"
The floor manager nearly had a heart attack because they were all shouting,
"What's going on down there? What's he doing? Tell him to hurry up!
"Time! Time!" But it was great television, great.
A continuacion Inglaterra
representada por la cancion Boom Bang A Bang.
In March of 1969, while in the middle of her second TV series for the BBC,
Lulu jetted off to Madrid to fly the flag
for Great Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest.
# ..Come closer and listen
# The beat of my heart keeps on missing
# I notice it most when we're kissing
# Come closer and love me tonight... #
Bill Cotton, who was the head of the BBC, said to my manager,
"I would like her to do the Eurovision Song..." I said, "Why?
"What do I want to do that for?
"Why do I want to do the Eurovision Song Contest? What's that all about?"
She said, "They really want you to do it, cos it'll get huge viewing figures."
# ..Won't you be mine?
# Boom bang-a-bang bang all the time. #
Everybody was round our TV thinking,
"Ooh, it's not only Glasgow that's watching her, and London,
"it's the world."
# ..Don't go away I wanna stay my whole life through
# Boom bang-a-bang bang close to you. #
We were watching the votes
and everyone was getting more excited
and the room was getting hotter and hotter.
It just built up to a tremendous climax
and I kept having to run to the toilet every time the votes came up.
Sweden says five votes for Britain, I went, "Oh, I'll have to go."
Lulu.
Boom Bang-A-Bang was a winner that night,
and would reach number two in the UK and be a massive hit all over Europe.
Yet once again, this was an indication of Lulu
having little or no say in the career choices being made on her behalf.
I just didn't feel it was the kind of stuff I liked to sing, you know.
You know, I'd much rather...
# Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey. #
Rather than...
# Boom bang-a-bang Boom bang-a-bang
# Da-da da-da
# Dum da-da-da, da-da-da-da Da-da da-da. #
# Now you are near I want to hear your heartbeat too
# Boom bang-a-bang bang,
# Boom bang-a-bang bang Boom bang-a-bang bang
# I love you. #
Right now, I won't even do Boom Bang-A-Bang on stage
because I just don't feel those lyrics, you know.
Now I want to absolutely feel those lyrics.
I'm 62, I can't be singing words that don't, you know, resonate with me.
Lulu is visiting her friend Jools Holland
in his south London recording studio
to rehearse a song for his radio show.
Today, she only sings songs she loves.
That's the best way to communicate, right.
Exactly. Much easier. Never mind all that silly "Hello, darling".
Don't want any of those... So give us a song.
Don't use the blunt instruments that we call words,
which I use all the time.
Use music, it's much easier.
I think one of the great things about Lulu is that you can hear
her voice is completely unique, it sounds just like her,
but now and again, there's a twinge of somebody else.
You hear a bit of Ray Charles and the other person I hear is Brenda Lee.
What if it's too high?
What if it's the wrong key?
# So sorry. #
Is that too high? Think it feels a bit high. I'm hoarse, but...
Shall we try G? Sounds nice.
I'd never sung Brenda Lee's I'm Sorry before
and I listened to it and thought, "That's my key,"
but I had to take it down because my voice was as hoarse as anything,
but I could hear the similarities in our voices, kind of the strong voice, you know.
Lulu has that spirit in her voice,
I mean, it's a completely unique voice,
but it has a spirit that draws a lot of the great elements together
and has a punch to it. That's what's great about it,
it has this kind of aggressive sound to it, it's great.
# I'm sorry
# So sorry
# That I was such a fool... #
There's the elements of blues in there, pop music in there, elements of soul music,
elements of country music.
The fact that she doesn't have barriers
and she loves the music she plays and she plays the music she loves
and that's what's allowed her her longevity.
# You tell me
# Mistakes
# Are part of being young
# But that don't right
# The wrong that's been done
# You tell me
# Mistakes
# Are part of being young
# But that don't right
# The wrong that's been done
# Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, yeah
# I'm sorry
# So so sorry
# Please accept my apology
# Love was blind
# I was too blind
# To see. #
Back in 1969, Lulu saw an opportunity
to take control of her musical direction
when her contract with Mickie Most was coming to an end.
I think I'd had three years
and he was willing to sign me again for another three,
but I, you know, would be complaining to Marian and saying,
"I just want to get some of that
"soulful R&B bluesey, gospel-y, the stuff that I've grown up loving."
Lulu thought her fortunes had changed when she signed to Atlantic Records,
the legendary soul label.
She would be working with the team that produced many of her idols,
such as Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.
When Atlantic Records wanted to sign me up,
my heart started to beat really fast.
I was told Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin
were going to be my producers.
I thought all my Christmases had come at once.
# I'm a hung up by the way it might have been, yeah
# Left here on my own... #
Despite feeling at home with the musical style,
Lulu's time at Atlantic did not produce any hits in the UK
and only one top-30 single in America.
They did great work, but I don't think they nailed me.
I don't think they got me and I don't think I got the right songs.
I think there was a lot of confusion for Lu, you know.
She'd started with an incredible rock record, gone pop,
and then got a bit lost in the middle with the Atlantic stuff,
though it was good stuff.
I think the public were confused, and so were the record companies, as to how to market it.
Although the hits were harder to come by in the early '70s,
Lulu's management had found other ways to capitalise on her popularity.
Since 1969, she had been the face of Freemans catalogue.
Marian thought that I could do anything.
She thought I could model, I could design clothes.
The thought that I could be modelling clothes, it was a joke.
I'm five-foot one, it's ridiculous.
But I was getting paid a lot of money.
So some things like Freemans I was sort of like,
"It's a bit cheesy, I don't know".
She would explain it to me from a different perspective and I would get it.
Interestingly enough, now that's all artists do.
They're advertising everything and they're making money.
They become a brand and actually, that's what Marian saw me as, a brand.
Today, the Lulu brand is as strong as ever
and a current sideline to her music career
is her ownership of a skincare range
which she spent years formulating and developing.
Let's face it, the music business is really all about youth.
So you learn quite quickly whether you...
I learned quite quickly, shall I say, that I had to,
whether I wanted to or not, I had to give attention to my appearance.
People would just want to talk about how I look.
So now, because of that, I have got another business.
Lulu regularly appears live on a home shopping channel to promote the range.
We're now going to talk about Killer Filler.
Instant. It's an instant fix, this one, you know.
I have to say, £27.96, if you've got lines that bug you
and they've just been there forever and a day...
If you spend a lot of time in the public eye
and you have that kind of scrutiny, you do learn,
you know, you get tips from all over the place and obviously
she wants to share that with other women, which is great.
It's a big trend, especially over in America,
to endorse things, whether it's you have your own perfume,
clothing line, make-up, everything -
all artists, everybody is looking at new ways to have income.
You squeeze it onto the line like this.
A very small amount, yep.
Yeah. And you don't rub.
You just pat and it goes in.
Right, stay tuned, you have got, can't remember.
I know Jill's coming up next with something marvellous, I'm sure.
Thank you. Thank you. THEY LAUGH
We're clear.
I don't know that it's necessary to have other strings to your bow
above and beyond singing,
but I find if you're a creative person
and you've got other ways that you can express yourself,
then I think that's fantastic.
Hello, everybody.
Back in 1973, and now in colour,
Lulu was working as hard as ever on her BBC Saturday night TV shows,
maintaining her profile as an all-round entertainer.
# That's when the music takes me
# Takes me to a brighter day... #
When we were doing the Lulu shows,
it was a tough time.
She had so much to do
and it was only that energy that kept her going.
# In us you see a couple of song and dance girls... #
Among Lulu's regular guests was her co-star from To Sir With Love,
Adrienne Posta.
There was comedy and dancing and singing and sketches,
and it was a turnover of one a week.
I mean, you did it on the Sunday night
and it got shown the following Saturday,
so it was quite a quick turnover.
# For miles and miles
# Fellows and children pass out cold
# When her voice hits the air
# When my feet hit the ground. #
# If they could see me now
# That little gang of mine
# Eating fancy chow and drinking fancy wine... #
Do you mind(?) Your fish is on my coat.
Oh, don't worry, it won't harm him.
That stuff doesn't moult anyway.
To be honest with you, I look at myself on all those BBC TV shows,
I think, "Who is that? Who is she?"
It's like I'm playing a part.
I'm an actress.
I was more Julie Andrews than Lulu.
# Because of all All
# The The
# The beautiful and new Beautiful and new
# Things Things
# I I
# Am learning about you
# Day by day. #
Although I like challenging myself on television,
part of me enjoyed that,
part of me was destroyed
because I wasn't making great records and great music.
'One, two, three, four.'
# Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
Although Lulu's musical roots lie
in the soul and R&B music she grew up listening to,
she's also a fan of many contemporary artists.
Recently, she's been putting her own spin on Mercy by Welsh songwriter, Duffy.
# ..Got me begging you for mercy Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Why won't you release me? Yeah, yeah, yeah
# You got me begging you for mercy Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Why won't you release me? Yeah, yeah, yeah
# I said you'd better release me
# Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Now you think that I Ooh-ooh
# I should be something on the side Ooh-ooh
# But you've got to understand I need a man who can take my hand
# Ooh-ooh
# I don't know what you do But you do it good
# Like I knew you would
# I don't know what you do
# But you do it well I'm under your spell
# You got me begging you for mercy # Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Why won't you release me? Yeah, yeah, yeah
# You got me begging for mercy Yeah, yeah, yeah
# Why won't you release me? Yeah, yeah, yeah
# I said you'd better release me
# Yeah
# I'm begging you for mercy
# Why won't you release me?
# I'm begging
# You got me begging
You got me begging
# Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
By the mid-'70s, despite being a household name,
thanks in part to the popularity of her Saturday night TV shows,
Lulu had not had a top-ten single in the UK for over five years.
But that was to change, thanks to a chance meeting in a Sheffield hotel.
# There's a starman waiting in the sky
# He'd like to come and meet us
# But he thinks he'd blow our minds
# There's a starman... #
The David Bowie thing was a lifeline to me, actually.
I met him in a hotel in the lobby,
he said, "Come and see my show tonight".
After the show, you know, like 10.30, 11,
the party started, and during the party,
during the night, he said to me,
"I want to record you, I'm going to make a big hit record with you".
He invited me to the Chateaux d'Herouville,
where he was recording his Pinups album and I'm thinking,
"Am I going to be able to step up to this because this isn't really me.
"David Bowie isn't my style.
"But you know, I'd love to do something different
"and challenging and he's hot, you know, in several ways."
# I laughed and shook his hand
# And made my way back home... #
He said to me, "I don't want you to sing the way you normally sing.'
# Oh, no, not me I never lost control... #
I would sing like that. He said to me, "I want you to sing..."
# Oh, no, not me
# I never lost control, You're face to face... #
And I did it, of course I can do it,
but it was sort of like, "Oh, my goodness. Is this going to work?"
And the whole time, I have to tell you, I was nervous.
# Who knows? Not me
# We never lost control
# You're face to face
# With the man who sold the world... #
The Man Who Sold The World
reached number three on the charts during 1974.
# ..We never lost control... #
With Bowie, he was king of the world at the time
and it was instant credibility, you know,
and also the record's still fantastic.
You play that record today and it's timeless.
Her success with David Bowie
was an indication that Lulu was embracing new musical styles.
She's always loved all kinds of music, Lu,
so it wasn't astonishing to find that she'd made this record.
It's one of David's favourite versions, I think.
That's the thing I always love about Lu is people with great talent
or real good artists, they see the artist in Lu
and the respect she gets from them is fantastic,
always gives me a buzz for her sake.
The same year, Lulu scored another hit when she recorded
the theme tune to the James Bond movie, The Man With The Golden Gun.
# He has a powerful weapon
# He charges a million a shot
# An assassin that's second to none
# The man with the golden gun... #
When John Barry and I wrote The Man With The Golden Gun,
I can't remember any other name being mentioned.
She just seemed right because it had that kind of biting,
fiery, you know, angry...
It was nothing like Shout, but it had the same kind of impact.
Doing a Bond song was kind of also out of the box for me.
I was thinking Shirley Bassey, am I Shirley?
I mean, those are the kind of songs that were done then.
But I didn't think that song was really me, again,
but you know, it was a great thing to do.
# His eye may be
# On you or me
# Will he bang?
# We shall see... #
In 1976, Lulu married hairdresser John Frieda
and in 1977, their son Jordan was born.
I was the eldest of four kids and I thought I'd got a handle on it,
I know how to bring up kids,
I know how to be mature, I can run this family,
I can take it all on, but it hit me hard.
I think mixing the job of doing what I did and being a mother
and trying to be a wife was insanity.
I really do.
It would have been kinder to myself,
kinder to Jordan and to my relationship
to have taken time off, but I didn't know how to do that.
I really didn't know how.
# My name is Lulu and this is my groove
# Doing the show especially for you... #
As Lulu entered the '80s, her third decade in the business,
she was back on the light entertainment treadmill.
The format was beginning to look tired and the songs she was performing
were doing nothing for her credibility.
# I'm going to harden my heart Swallow my tears
# Swallow my tears... #
In the '80s, I think I was definitely lost.
My manager didn't really know what to do with me
and I was doing cabaret.
I was making money.
I was making a lot of money.
# Play a song for me Applejack, Applejack
# Play a song, let your banjo ring... #
Take it away, Applejack.
I was really, really, really unhappy
and I knew deep down things have to change,
I cannot continue like this.
# Hey-ey-ey-ey... # After an absence of over ten years,
Lulu returned to the charts in 1986
with a reworking of Shout, the song that had once been her calling card.
This new '80s twist on the song
was a reflection on where Lulu's career was at.
# Shout, shout, shout Shout, shout, shout... #
You know, re-recording Shout, I was miserable.
# Shout
# Well, I feel all
# Right. #
ARCHIVE: 'Shout, the number that launched Lulu on the road to stardom
'and 25 years later, she is being specially honoured by the Variety Club,
'an occasion which she's sharing with son Jordan and husband John.
'Also here, the lady that's guided Lulu's career all these years, Marian Massey.'
Well, she was a very bright little spark when I first met her,
and now she's a shining star
and I'm very happy to have helped her along the way.
In 1989, while Lulu was being honoured by the Royal Variety Club of Great Britain
to celebrate 25 years in show business,
cracks were beginning to show in her marriage to John Frieda.
John was going his way with his career and I was lost and you know,
I was trying to hold it together somehow because we had a son
and, um...
yeah, that was a real dark, dark time for me.
Very dark.
At the same time as Lulu's break-up with husband John Frieda,
she also parted company with manager Marian Massey,
who, since Lulu left Glasgow 25 years earlier,
had been like a second mother to her.
She'd been with Marian for a long time,
Marian had done a fantastic job, but I think after 20-odd years,
it had probably run its course, you know.
You know, when I left home,
when I got the opportunity to make a record when I was 15,
it was difficult for my mother
and I didn't really, really get it until much later.
I don't think I really, really got how difficult...
that must have been for Marian.
# I've had many times I can tell you
# Times when innocence I'd trade for company... #
I didn't have a manager. I didn't have a husband.
My whole life was, you know, falling apart, it felt like.
I got to this point, "I want a change, I want a change."
And my brother said, "You're going to write your own songs.
"You can't do it the way you did before. It's a new world out there.
"The record industry is completely different."
I said "I can't write." He said, "You can."
"I can't." "You can." And we did.
A few years ago, I wrote, well, when I was 40, let's be honest.
OK, more than a few years ago.
I wrote a song, the very first song I ever wrote with my brother Billy
and a friend of mine, Steve DuBerry
and it was a huge hit all over the world.
But not for me.
For Tina Turner, God bless her heart.
I'd like to sing it for you tonight.
Tina heard it - so I hear.
The word is that she said, "It's the story of my life".
I said, "Hey, girl, it's the story of my life".
No, I didn't. I thought it.
# There's a pale moon in the sky
# The kind you make your wishes on
# Oh
# Like the light in your eyes
# The one I built my dreams upon
# It's not there any longer
# Something happened somewhere
# And we both know why
# But me, I'm getting stronger
# We must stop pretending
# I can't live this lie
# Oh, I
# I don't care who's wrong or right
# I don't really want to fight no more
# Too much talking, babe
# Let's sleep on it tonight
# I don't really want to fight no more
# Time for letting go
# I hear a whisper in the air
# It simply doesn't bother me
# No, no, no
# Can't you see that I don't care?
# Or are you looking right through me?
# Seems to be that lately
# You look at me the wrong way and I start to cry
# Oh, could it be that maybe Could it be that maybe
# This crazy situation is the reason why?
# Oh
# I don't care who's wrong or right
# I don't really want to fight no more... #
I felt I was rubbish at relationships, rubbish at marriage
and so just do what you know how to do
and that's why I focused on going back
to trying to get back into the recording business.
# Baby, don't you know... #
Boosted by the success of her first attempt at songwriting,
Lulu's next step was to look for new management.
Highly respected music industry figure Tony King,
who'd previously worked with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, was approached.
I'll be honest, when someone suggested to me about managing Lulu,
I had my doubts. I thought, "Oh",
cos she'd been off the map for a while
and I sort of wondered, kind of,
"Well, OK, but what is it?" You know?
Then I got played the track that she'd done, Independence,
and I thought, "Wow."
# Don't be surprised by the way that I am
# By the way that I feel and I act... #
I bought it not knowing that this was the same Lulu that had sang
this sweet little pop record To Sir With Love.
It was that same Lulu.
This record was spectacular, sung by this soulful energetic girl.
I couldn't believe it was the same singer that was doing this.
# I want my independence Yeah, yeah, yeah
# I want my freedom
# Right now... #
The lyrics of the song Independence perfectly encapsulated
both Lulu's personal life and her career at that point in time.
I was trying to find what I could do by making my decisions
and also being an independent woman, that's what it said.
I am independent.
Goodbye to the past, sad or not,
but I can take the reins now and I can move forward and I can move up.
We both decided what we did not want to do
and that was all that variety stuff.
She'd had it. She'd done all that.
# Relight my fire
# Cos I need... #
In 1993, Lulu's collaboration with Take That
would give her, at the age of 45, her first ever UK number-one single.
# You've got to be strong enough to walk on through the night
# Yeah There's a new day on the other side
# Yeah You got to have hope in your soul... #
That really, really brought her to the forefront
of a lot of younger people, too.
So all of a sudden she was very much back,
but also back as a credible singer, you know,
not as a Eurovision singer,
or doing the Mickie-Most-type songs - we'd moved on from that.
# Relight my fire
# Your love is my only desire... #
It was number one, like, instantly, and I was doing all these TV shows
and having so much fun
cos they were young boys and they were full of enthusiasm.
You know, they were interested.
You know, "As a 40-year-old woman
"that had been in this business a long time,
"how have you managed to stay afloat for so long?"
# I need your love... #
She still has a great love of soul music and stuff
and she wanted to be seen as a credible artist.
# I'm back for more
# Of the love that we had before... #
In that same year, Lulu returned to the charts again
when she collaborated with soul legend Bobby Womack.
# You and me You and me
# Be like before Like before
# Sweet harmony Baby, I'm back for more
# Of that love that we... #
You know, it may be a stigma, she wanted to record with me.
I never thought I could record with her
after listening many years ago to To Sir With Love.
Now here I'm the sir, she's the love.
You know, and that blew me out.
# But now we've been found, So much better... #
To be honest with you, the vocals were not done together.
He did his vocals in America.
But then he came over and we did Top Of The Pops together. He's a character.
So I was working with a bit of a legend.
# There ain't nothing left to do But come running back to you
# Just to let you know just what's on my mind... #
Lulu's credibility was further strengthened
when she felt comfortable enough
to send herself up on hit TV show, French & Saunders.
Course, you've had a lovely long career, haven't you? Yes.
Longer than Cliff's. Sir Cliff.
Sorry. I bow to you. Sir Cliff. And you worked with Take That. Yes.
Frankly, I'd cut my right leg off for that opportunity. Yeah.
Stayed with the times, hasn't she? Swinging girl.
Absolutely swinging girl, she is.
It's not that we don't like your music...
Well, we don't like your music. We don't like it.
You know, to have such a great woman who's so respected
to just be able to, you know, let her guard down, have a load of fun,
it was a really lovely thing to see.
Can I have a little private word with you? Yeah, sure.
SHE WHISTLES
I know we're guarding her and everything. Yeah.
Will we inevitably have to kill her?
No. No? No. Don't kill Lulu.
No, no, no. Not to kill her, no. Not kill Lulu.
People would be very upset. Right.
Lulu's kind of always been around.
I think probably a lot of people in the UK feel like that.
She's really a national treasure.
She's a national treasure. Right.
I must not kill Lulu. Don't kill her. Right.
I wouldn't even think about myself being iconic.
I would never think about that sort of thing.
It's my job and I've been around a lot.
People are very friendly with me. On the whole,
people are very nice to me, because I have been around so long.
Oh, look, it's little Lulu. Hi, Lu. SMACKING KISSING NOISES
Lulu appeared again with Jennifer Saunders
on the TV show Absolutely Fabulous
as the top client of disastrous PR woman Edina.
The PR person is such a phoney baloney,
you know, and I am supposedly a star or her star client.
What would you like, Lulu?
Oh, I'd like one of those. Yes. And I'll have two of those.
Yes, Lulu. And three of these.
Steady on, sweetie. And...
OK. Thank you.
Champagne for Lulu.
She wants everybody's attention and I'm like...
so boring, but you know,
I go a lot of places today and that's what people say,
especially the gay guys.
All the gay guys go, "Champagne for Lulu."
It's a joke and it's fun, you know, it's fun.
Like wherever I go, I order champagne(!) I don't.
# Footsteps on the dance floor
# Reminds me, baby, of you
# Teardrops in my eyes... #
Lulu's star continued to rise throughout the late '90s
and reached new heights in 2002 when a new album of duets
included a collaboration with close friend Elton John.
# Every tune
# And the music don't feel like it did
# When I felt it with you
# Oh Nothing that I do or feel
# Ever feels like I felt it with you... #
It's like having this bundle of energy next to you.
I have a lot of energy.
She has more energy than I have.
That's what I particularly love about her.
Her effusiveness, her personality.
It just comes out like an electric shock.
# Whoa whoa, whoa whoa
# Whoa whoa, yeah... #
Elton, I think, like myself, absolutely loves it.
I don't think he's going to be giving up any day soon,
and we both have that thing,
so to work with him, you know,
there's a real strong connection.
Lulu's friendship with Elton
led to her making a trip to Cambodia earlier this year
in support of the Elton John Aids Foundation charity.
Everybody say "OK". ALL: OK.
Say "yeah".
ALL: Yeah.
So what I did was I went to Cambodia to see how they spend
the money to help these people to help themselves.
# Yeah... #
And that's what we want the whole world to be able to do,
is not to have to be taken care of,
but you know, you always need a start.
MUSIC: "Crank It" by Soulja Boy
CHEERING
When Lulu lent her support to Comic Relief earlier this year,
she surprised the viewing public.
The 62-year-old grandmother appeared in full hip-hop garb
and proceeded to bust some moves to Crank It by rap artist Soulja Boy.
They gave a couple of suggestions
and I felt they were predictable suggestions.
You know, with respect,
I thought, "Let's try and do something that's not predictable, and I love hip-hop."
We really wanted to do it for the charity but also because
Lulu thought it would be a great way to kind of almost show people
she can still do what everybody else is doing and she really can.
I take everything easy.
BOTH: Not.
So I also kind of like being gentle with my body
now that I'm such an old fart.
Shush. Well, respect.
Respect the body, sweetie.
Yeah. For the maturity...
It's creeping up ever so fast.
Do you want to learn something new?
Stretch maybe first. Stretch.
I didn't exercise once in my life until I had my son.
I had him when I was 28 so I didn't do anything as a kid.
No dance lessons or anything like that.
But because I've been flexible, I've always been fortunate
but I've always had that, that's just natural.
For the Comic Relief routine,
Lulu teamed up with street dance group, Peridot.
Hey. How are you doing?
# It's been too long It's been too long. #
You all right? Yeah. How have you survived without me?
I've barely been able to live!
How are you?
Obviously we weren't born when she was doing her thing,
but we knew what she was about. We knew that she was talented.
The people that had seen her growing up
and seen her on the TV screen when they were younger, when they saw her
come out and she was doing Soulja Boy and all that, it was a laugh,
but it was actually good. It's not just a joke, like.
I must tell you, my nan, she's just like, "What?"
At first, we was thinking maybe we should make it a bit easier.
She was like, "No". She wants to do it that way. Don't change it.
We left it how it was and she got it.
I wasn't surprised because whatever Lulu throws herself into,
she will make sure that she's the best at doing it.
Six, seven and...
DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
WHOOPING
Take it back. Take it back.
POSH VOICE: Yes, darling, this is a very modern kind of dance, you know!
We call it hip-hop!
Look at what they do though, they're amazing.
I can do a bit, but they do incredible things with their bodies.
I'd like to take them on tour with me, really.
You know what, maybe that's how I'm going to go. High tops.
Badass Lulu.
Lulu's wish to have the group perform on tour with her came to fruition
when they made a guest appearance during her Glasgow concert.
MUSIC: "Crank It" by Soulja Boy
Mad, energetic, that's what you like to see.
We're hoping that by the time we're her age, half her age,
we'll still be able to kick it like that.
Lulu is in. Lulu is in.
MUSIC: "Crank It" by Soulja Boy
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Let's hear it for Peridot, everybody.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
It's the spirit of Lulu that is incredible. She's forever young.
She's still really a teenager.
She has this incredible zest for life and that helps a lot.
She's always listening to young kids,
always encouraging young kids,
always being influenced by young kids and that's very healthy.
She has a passionate drive that's always been there.
She loves to sing. She's at her happiest when she's working,
and music's still right at the centre of her life. She loves it.
The very fact she can go touring still,
you know, where most people just think, "Oh, I'll just take it easy,"
she won't.
# Relight my fire... #
During 2009, at the age of 60, Lulu headed out on the road
for the aptly named Here Come The Girls Tour,
appearing with Chaka Khan and Anastasia.
She's a workhorse.
She is an absolute inspiration for someone like me.
When you think you're tired,
you're never that tired, because Lulu can run faster than you.
If you think your voice is tired, she will sing higher than you.
You just don't... There's no "no" in her vocabulary.
Having worked tirelessly for over 45 years,
Lulu's fan base now included everyone from teenagers to grandmothers.
The philosophy is, "Girls, it's a night out, come out,
"off your seats, have a bit of fun."
That's really, if I'm going to a concert,
I really want to come home and say
"What a night, that was unbelievable,
"I had the best time and I knew most of the songs."
# Your love, your love, your love, I need your love... #
Like myself, this is the nicest time of my life,
in my early 60s or mid-60s.
I think she would probably say the same, as well.
And you know, we all look back at the old days
and we love what we went through and what we did,
but I think if you asked her now
she'd say, "No, this is the best time."
I'm smiling because I'm thinking,
I am sort of back where I started.
I'm still waiting to be discovered.
I've said that but it's very much how it is right now.
I'm in my 60s. I'm doing the gigs.
I'm thinking, "This will be the one, this will be my breakthrough gig."
I just need one minute.
I'll be 63 in November, give me a break.
I've been doing this a long time,
and it's not for the money, let me tell you.
It's because I love it.
I love what I do.
Yeah, but there's something I feel I want to say to you.
# Well
# You know you make me want to shout
# Throw my hands up
# Come on now Shout
# Throw my head back Shout
# Come on now Shout
# Don't forget to say you will Shout
# Don't forget to shout
# Yeah, yeah, yeah,
# Say you will Throw your head back, baby
# Say you will... #
Frankly, I think Lulu could keep performing for ever.
She... She...
She's still got it, that's it.
There's nothing more to say. She still has "it".
# Say that you want me, baby... #
I think Lulu will go on for as long as she can sing for.
I think the great artists get greater, I really do believe that.
# I still remember
# When you used to be nine years old... #
Lulu's voice still sounds like Lulu.
It's still good and I'm convinced that she's better than she used to be.
# You been good to me, baby
# Better than I been to myself,
# But if you ever leave me, honey... #
At the end of the day, Lulu is so talented and still got this drive.
And when you've got talent and that drive, you'll go on for ever.
# You know you make me want to shout... #
You've got to keep that sense of wonder, that sense of never having grown up,
that sense of always thinking
there's something new around the corner.
# Come on, baby Shout
# Take it easy, baby Take it easy, baby... #
I think I'm one of the luckiest people. Really.
# Pick it up now Shout
# Hey-ey-ey-ey
# Shout now jump up and shout now
# Everybody shout now
# Everybody shout now... #