09 February 2024 , 08:54
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British pop icon Lulu has announced she will be retiring from touring following a 60-year music career.
The Boom-Bang-a-Bang hitmaker, 75, is set to perform her final tour in April, with her last show being held at the London Palladium on April 17.
Revealing the shock news to Gyles Brandreth on his Rosebud podcast, the music icon confessed: “This is actually - I’m announcing it for the first time now - this is my farewell tour, with family, and friends.
Lulu has announced her retirement (Getty Images)
Lulu's career kicked off when she was only 15-years-old (Mirrorpix)“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. And I felt unsupported. 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’."
Lulu added: “I've learned. And I've also become a slightly different person. I'm not afraid to be vulnerable."
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The Champagne For Lulu tour is set to end on the 60th anniversary of her very first hit single Shout - which debuted when the singer was still a teenager at just 15-years-old.
Opening up about her upcoming tour, which will bring an end to her incredible 60-year music career, Lulu told podcast host Gyles: “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.
British singer Lulu has enjoyed a stellar music career which spans six decades
Lulu has been churning out pop hits since the 1960s (PA Archive/PA Images)“The audience want to do it by themselves anyway. 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 first shot to fame following her debut 1964 hit Shout at the tender age of just 15. Lulu has never taken a break from her music career, and continued to perform around the world well into her 70's.
During her incredible career, the Scottish singer has had ten Top Ten singles including Relight My Fire with Take That. She also sang the title track for the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. Lulu also won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969 with her hit song Boom Bang-a-Bang.
Despite still touring in her 70's, Lulu previously admitted to taking on drastic lifestyle changes after a diagnosis left her feeling 'frightened'. After watching her father Eddie pass away as a result of high cholesterol, the singer decided to make the effort to monitor her own which led to a shocking diagnosis.
Lulu was left 'frightened' when her GP told her that she had raised cholesterol herself - with her fears stemming from the fact it is a big risk factor for coronary heart disease. The diagnosis caused her to reflect on her father's death, and she said: "My father's death - at the age of 71 - was terrible. I loved him dearly. He had worked in the meat market in Glasgow for years and was a great singer.
Lulu performed at the Eurovision Song Contest (Mirrorpix)
The singer is retiring at 75 (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)"Unfortunately, he didn't really take care of his body and he'd had plenty of health warnings that he ignored," she told Daily Express back in 2022. "So even though I've always tried to look after myself, when I discovered that I had raised cholesterol, memories of my dad's illness spurred me on and I made sure that I did something about it."
She was quickly motivated to make changes to her diet in an effort to lower her cholesterol. The star admitted that she threw away ice-cream from her freezer and stopped putting butter on sandwiches as well as starting to include cholesterol-lowering foods as part of her everyday diet.
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