British pop legend has announced her retirement from the music business, revealing that her upcoming tour will be her ‘farewell’.
The Scottish singer, 75, born in Lennoxtown, 10 miles north of Glasgow, , but now has concrete plans to retire.
Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin, when her iconic cover of The Isley Brothers’ Shout reached the UK top 10.
Five years later in 1969 she represented the United Kingdom at , winning the competition in a year with her song Boom Bang-a-Bang when the prize was shared between four countries.
Her career has now spanned seven decades but after experiencing a ‘gruelling’ touring schedule in 2023, she’s decided to close the curtain on her time on the world stage.
Speaking to the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandreth, she said: ‘I’m announcing it for the first time now – this is my farewell tour, with my family and friends.’
The Man Who Sold the World singer continued: ‘Because last year I did a tour that was kind of gruelling – it was successful, it went well – but you need an army to be a success in your career these days.’
She continued, saying that she felt ‘unsupported’ with her music, ‘but then I turned 75, and I thought ‘you know what, I want to carry on working, but I want to do it a different way. I’ve learned.’
The Relight My Fire hitmaker then teased fans with what they can expect during her final string of shows: ‘I’m not going to tell you exactly what I’m going to do, but of course I’ll have to do ‘Boom Bang-a-Bang’. The audience want to do it by themselves anyway.
‘[But] you can’t not give people what they want – and more. If you’ve ever seen me on tour, just let me say, you won’t have seen me like this.’
Lulu was just 15 when Shout hit the UK charts, and the closing night of the upcoming Champagne for Lulu tour will coincide with that song’s 60th anniversary.
The tour begins on Saturday, April 6, in Glenrothes, before heading to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Manchester, Gateshead, Southampton, and Birmingham, closing on 17 April in London.
A statement read: ‘Champagne for Lulu will be a massive celebration with guest performances and Lulu as you’ve never seen her. She goes beyond the bubbles, delivering the performance of a lifetime.’
After she failed to achieve a new top 10 UK chart hit between 1975 and 1992, her career was given a huge boost when Take That featured her on their number one single Relight My Fire in 1993.
Away from music, Lulu has also had a career in TV, with Lulu’s Back In Town, It’s Lulu, and Happening for Lulu all getting short runs on the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s.
She and Absolutely Fabulous, and starred in films such as To Sir With Love, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, and is set to star in Arthur’s Whiskey, an upcoming comedy with Diane Keaton.
