She burst onto the music scene at just 15 years old in the Swinging Sixties, a powerhouse voice in a tiny frame who quickly became a household name. From chart-topping singles to blockbuster movie themes and legendary collaborations, she has done it all, building a legacy as one of pop music’s most enduring stars.
Unbeknownst to her fans, friends, and even her family, though, behind the "squeaky clean" image she perfected for decades Scottish singer Lulu, 76, was fighting a secret, decades-long battle with addiction.
In a stunningly honest interview with The Sunday Times on Friday, Lulu revealed that she is an alcoholic and has been in recovery for years. Her reliance on wine, which she describes as a "family illness," became unmanageable in her sixties. "I was a secret drinker," she admitted, explaining that her drinking was always done in private, away from her family and career.
"For many years, and I can't say how many, I had not been happy with the way I felt, not at all happy and [yet] unable to ask for help," she told The Times.
The turning point came during a family lunch for her 65th birthday in 2013, when she finally admitted to her sister Edwina that her drinking was out of control. Just 24 hours later, she checked into the Meadows rehabilitation center in Arizona. It was there she was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from a childhood her Arizona therapist described as a "war zone."
Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Lulu grew up in a Glasgow tenement where she witnessed violent domestic abuse between her parents. "Nobody said alcoholic where I came from," she told The Times, recalling how her father would regularly hit her mother when he was drunk, leaving bruises and bloody eyes her mother would then blame on tripping over a broom. "My mother taught me how to keep secrets."
Lulu left home at 15 to go to London and pursue singing, and her career took off almost overnight. After her debut single "Shout" became a massive hit in 1964, famously championed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles, she was launched into a new world, a career that fast became a whirlwind of iconic moments.
In 1967, she starred opposite Sidney Poitier in the classic film To Sir, With Love and sang the theme song, which soared to No. 1 in the United States. In 1969, she represented the UK and won the Eurovision Song Contest with "Boom Bang-a-Bang." She became the only Eurovision winner to also record a James Bond theme, singing "The Man with the Golden Gun" in 1974. That same year, she collaborated with the legendary David Bowie, who produced her hit cover of "The Man Who Sold the World."
Decades later, Lulu reinvented herself once again, hitting No. 1 with Take That on their 1993 hit "Relight My Fire." That same year she wrote the iconic “I Don’t Wanna Fight” for Tina Turner.
Despite her incredible success, though, it was not without sacrifice. In her interview with The Times, she explained, “‘Lulu' is a character I play, a part.” The real her, Marie, was "a bit of a tortured soul.” To keep Lulu alive, “that [real] part of me got shoved down.”
The culmination of her past trauma and the pressure of fame eventually led her to use alcohol to cope. "I'd drink to help stop the head spinning," she said.
Today, however, Lulu is in a place of peace and acceptance. "Now I'm in recovery, I probably have never been happier in my life, and at the same time, never been more in touch with my feelings," she told The Times. This has allowed her to forgive her parents and understand their struggles.
Though she has completed her final tour, Lulu is adamant that she isn't retiring. She plans to continue performing at single shows and wants to do more acting. She even has one more dream collaboration on her wish list. "I want to sing a duet with Rod Stewart, I've never sung with Rod," she told The BBC in April 2024. "That's on my wish list."
After a lifetime of battling generational trauma, Lulu's story is not one of regret, but of strength. "I thank God for that every day," she said of her resilience in her interview with The Times. "I think music saved my life."
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