17 February 2024 , 09:52
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Singer Lulu was overcome with emotion as she spoke about the death of her parents and the heartbreak she felt as they passed away within a couple of years of each other.
The 75-year-old iconic performer was reflecting on the tumultuous relationship her parents had but said that ultimately, they loved each other and that she felt their love for her.
Lulu became extremely tearful as she spoke about her family with Gyles Brandreth on his Rosebud podcast, telling the broadcaster: “They loved each other because ultimately, they stayed together, which sounds crazy because today it wouldn’t happen. My mother died first, she was in her late 70s, and she died of cancer. Then my father died two years later, I would say of a broken heart."
Lulu revealed plans to retire this month (Getty Images for EON Productions)The Shout singer found her voice beginning to break as she continued: "I can’t believe I still have tears about this but it’s deep, it runs deep.” Lulu revealed that her parents had had a difficult relationship due to her father's alcoholism and his unpredictable behaviour because of this.
The singer continued to tell Gyles: "There was a lot of singing, there wasn’t a lot of money, but music is joyful. My father had a voice like Pavarotti, it was big and powerful, and he sang from his heart and soul. I feel that it is important for me to share what went on in my childhood because I always felt in the past that people would look down on me and my parents, and I didn’t want that because I love them. Now, I know that none of it was their fault, their behaviours were the life they had landed in. There was a lot of fun, and my parents loved me. No matter what went on, I felt their love.”
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This isn't the first time that Lulu has opened up about the "difficulties" she had faced with her dad but they had "dealt with them in order to survive”. Speaking to The Guardian in 2010, the Scottish singer said: "[Dad] was volatile so we never knew what was going to happen from one minute to the next, so we were always trying to pre-empt his behaviour. My parents' relationship was very much, ‘can't live with them, can't live without them’. They were a crazy old couple and it was one of those love/hate things.”
Earlier this month, Lulu shocked fans as she revealed plans to retire. The Scottish singer announced her next set of gigs will be a “farewell tour with family and friends”.
The 75-year-old, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie and also known as Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, revealed that her last tour was “gruelling” and said she wants to “carry on working but I want to do it differently”. Speaking about her upcoming 2024 tour, Champagne For Lulu, she said: “If you’ve ever seen me on tour just let me say you won’t have seen me like this. This is actually… I’m announcing it for the first time now.
“This is my farewell tour with family and friends 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 and then I turned 75 and I thought you know what? I want to carry on working but I want to do it differently. I’ve learned and I’ve also become a slightly different person. I’m not afraid to be vulnerable."
Lulu will embark on her farewell tour, celebrating 60 years in music, in April, starting with a show in Glasgow – her home city. During an appearance on Lorraine in January the singer and actress said she still wants to work after her tour and announced plans to make a new album.
Lulu announced that her upcoming Champaign For Lulu tour will be her last (Getty Images)Lulu shot to fame aged just 15 when Shout, a cover of the Isley Brothers track, became a hit. In 1969 she represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest and her song Boom Bang-A-Bang was the joint winner that year as she shared the prize with France, The Netherlands and Spain with 18 points each.
In 2017 Lulu announced she would be taking on the biggest tour of her career, called All About The Music Tour, which spanned 40 dates around the UK, in October and November of that same year. In an interview with the Daily Express newspaper where she discussed the tour, the singer said that she had not yet contemplated retirement.
“I don’t think of retirement. My son wouldn’t dare ask if I would retire,” she said.
Lulu returned to the West End in 2018, joining the cast of musical 42nd Street to play the lead role Dorothy Brock, and she has most recently starred in 2024 Sky Cinema comedy Arthur’s Whisky.