I was in the record store last night and I saw a used CD for 99¢ and it was Lulu’s Greatest Hits on Rhino. I liked the old song “To Sir With Love,” so I bought it. I was not familiar with any of the other songs, though I think I’ve heard “I Could Never Miss You,” on the radio before.
Anyway I looked her up on the Internet and she seems to still be pretty big in England, and after listening to the whole CD I must say I was damn impressed with her, especially her version of “Shout,” and David Bowie’s “Watch That Man,” and Aretha Franklin’s “Oh Me Oh My.” Her versions are much better.
So to the people in the UK and Europe, is she still well known there? I vaugely remember some “Ab Fab” connection though I haven’t really seen a lot of episodes.
Certainly still a household name in the UK, though more as a generalised, long-established celebrity than anything else. As a singer, “Shout!” is about the only song anyone would routinely associate her with.
But she was huge in the UK in the Seventies. Your own primetime BBC1 Saturday night TV show was pretty much as mainstream big as you could get.
I swear, she either had a show in Canada, or Canadian TV ran a UK show of hers. I thought she was quite something when I was a young girl. Have a look on YouTube for her version of “Shout”–it’s smokin’.
It depends what you mean by ‘big’ or a ‘household name’.
Lulu, like say Tom Jones, Gary Lineker or Carol Vorderman has UK name recognition as a ‘celebrity’.
But so do the contestants on ‘Big Brother’ or a TV soap.
And newscasters.
Her version of Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” is a cracker: she was backed by Bowie’s band at the time - Mick Ronson et al, and she really wails on it.
She was married to Maurice Gibb. That’s how I know her.
I kinda get the impression that she’s like Olivia Newton-John: talented and beautiful and appeals to many generations and both sexes because she’s also really sweet. So while technically she’s a has-been, she’s protected from obscurity because so many people fantasized about her back in their day.
Yeah I was thinking in terms of a household name. I must say if you’ve never listened to her boy can that girl sing. It’s interesting that the single “Shout,” sold well in the UK because it’s unknown in the states, and I thought the Isley Brothers’s version was good, but her version is better. And she even on up’d Aretha with “Oh Me Oh My.”
On the song “To Sir With Love,” her voice is really laid back and soft, she can really belt out a tune though.
