Fanclub1965Lulu

July 31, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum

Photo 1149 of 6615
Previous
Next

Lulu Kennedy-Cairns OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie; 3 November 1948) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. She is internationally known, especially by North American audiences, for the song "To Sir with Love" from the 1967 film of the same name and with the title song to the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. In European countries, she is also widely known for her Eurovision Song Contest 1969 winning entry "Boom Bang-a-Bang", and in the UK for her 1964 hit "Shout", which was performed at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Life and career Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie was born in Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire, and grew up in Dennistoun, Glasgow, where she attended Thomson Street Primary School and Onslow Drive School. She lived in Gallowgate for a while before moving to Garfield Street, Dennistoun. At the age of 12 or 13, she and her manager approached a band called the Bellrocks seeking stage experience as a singer. She appeared with them every Saturday night: Alex Thomson, the group's bass player, has reported that even then her voice was remarkable. She has two brothers and a sister, and her father was a heavy drinker. At age 14, she received the stage name "Lulu" from her future manager Marion Massey, who commented: "Well, all I know is that she's a real lulu[a] of a kid." In August 2017, Lulu's family history was the subject of an episode in the UK series Who Do You Think You Are? The research showed that her mother had been brought up by another family. The investigation into her genealogy showed that Lulu's maternal grandparents had come from across the religious divide in Glasgow. Her grandfather Hugh Cairns was a Catholic and her grandmother, Helen Kennedy, was a Protestant. Cairns had been a member of a Catholic gang and was found in the research to have been in and out of prison at the time of the birth of Lulu's mother. Kennedy was found to be the daughter of a Worthy Mistress of the Ladies' Orange Lodge 52 and explained why the two families were against the union between Kennedy and Cairns. Go to Wikipedia for full History.

View Less

Report this photo