In 1948 a star was born. Her name was Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie but her stage name is known by all. It’s Lulu.

We skip to 1964 when this Scottish performer had her first chart hit with Shout, and further to 1969 when she was the United Kingdom’s representative at the Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid. This second win for Royaume Uni was entitled Boom bang-a-bang, sharing the honours with France, The Netherlands and Spain.

She became internationally famous in 1967 when she sang the James Bond film theme To sir with love. That exposure gave her a major hit in the USA where she reached Number 1 and had one of the biggest selling records that year.

Following that she had her own television series, which lasted for 8 years, one of which was the vehicle for selecting the Eurovision Song Contest entry in 1975.

To celebrate 50 years in the music business she is going back on the road, after a gap of 10 years, with 13 dates set for the United Kingdom, starting on Sunday 10 May and ending on Tuesday 16 May 2015. Dates were set for Ireland too but there is currently no information available for them.

To the disappointment of some fans this tour won’t include her 1969 Eurovision winner. In an interview with thestar.co.uk she explained why she won’t be singing it. She said that [she] couldn’t sing the lyrics with any real emotion. and that the song doesn’t fit into her rock and soul kind of feeling.

She is also recording a new album, her first since 2005. The album which will showcase a return to her roots, being both the music which initially inspired her to perform and her enduring passion.

She also told The Star that she’s more concerned about the inner soul and hopes her music will give her the chance to reconnect, not only with the music she loves, but also with fans who haven’t seen her tour solo in the UK since 2004. I went back into the studio, working and writing with a lot of young musicians. And I’ve kind of got this new energy. This is what I love. I live for music. I’m all fired up and ready to go.

If you live near Salford, Liverpool, Glasgow, York, Gateshead, London, Cardiff,  Birmingham, Southend, Nottingham, Sheffield, Ipswich or Bournemouth (in tour order) then these are the places to see Lulu.

Tickets can be obtained from www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

Here’s Lulu’s 1969 UK winner Boom bang-a-bang

Stay tuned to esctoday.com for more news on the Eurovision Cong Contest and its artists, both past and present.