After five decades in the business, Lulu is as excited as ever about her date at Cornbury Festival, she tells Tim Hughes

Lulu is thirsty. We are settling down to talk, but first she needs a drink; and not just any drink.

“I’m getting a masala chai,” she says in that distinctive sing-song voice. “I came off them but am now back on them again.”

In terms of rock & roll addictions, her love of spiced Indian tea is as mild as they come. But that’s Lulu all over.

The girl next door, born Marie MacDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, still projects a homespun, down to earth charm – even at the age of 65.

She’s honest, open – and can still hold a damn fine tune after five decades in showbiz.

“I love what I do and the latest tour has been so much fun,” she says with a twinkle.

“I don’t do this to be famous. I’ve been a singer since I’ve been able to talk. It’s all about the music – all apart from my grandchildren, who are the love of my life.”

We were supposed to have talked a day earlier, but Lulu was singing that night and wanted to save her voice. “I can’t have long conversations with people when I’m playing,” she says. “It’s my only voice, so I have to save it.

“If I’m singing I give 150 per cent. And I’m pretty disciplined. That’s why I’m back on the chai again!”

Early next month she brings her powerful vocal chords to Oxfordshire to play the county’s Cornbury Music Festival, alongside fellow 60s icons Tom Jones, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas.

They are joined by an eclectic mix of artists including Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, Razorlight; Billy Ocean; The Fratellis; Chas & Dave; Larkin Poe; The Felice Brothers and Blue.

The festival, affectionately nicknamed Poshstock, is a favourite of the Chipping Norton set, with the likes of David and Samantha Cameron, Alex James Jeremy Clarkson and Rebekah and Charlie Brooks frequently spotted in the crowd – or in the sanctuary of its VIP area.

“I’m so excited about it,” Lulu says. “And if they like music, we’ll be fine. Music transcends class, colour and creed. It can get political, but the kind of music I do is more about emotions: sad, poignant – I like to do all of that.”

This feisty twice-divorced grandmother was a precocious teen when she hit the national consciousness with the song by which she is still best known.

Shout, a cover of an Isley Brothers tune, captivated the record-buying public with her vocal acrobatics sending it to number seven in the charts. She was only 15 at the time, but the die was cast.

Under the pupillage of her manager Marion Massey, who had spotted her in a Glasgow club owned by Massey’s brother the year before, she became a teenage star, Massey’s husband Mark London writing many of her hits including her biggest hit of the 60s – To Sir With Love, the theme to the 1967 film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier.

More hits came in the shape of Eurovision song contest winner Boom Bang-a-Bang, a version of David Bowie’s The Man who sold the World, and the title song for the James Bond movie The Man with The Golden Gun. She even became the first British female singer to perform behind the Iron Curtain, touring Poland with the Hollies in 1966.

Along the way, she has worked with many of the greats, either singing alongside them, or welcoming them onto her TV show Happening for Lulu. They include The Beatles, The Monkees (having a romance with the band’s Davy Jones), the aforementioned Bowie (whom she also dated) and the Bee Gees – marrying singer Maurice Gibb.

Along the way, she has also duetted with Elton John, Sting, Paul McCartney, Ronan Keating and Bobby Womack, and recorded a number one hit, Relight My Fire, with Take That.

Her show will be far from just a trip down memory lane, though.

“I’d never do all the hits,” she says. “Some of them I couldn’t go to anymore. Like (1967 hit) I’m a Real Tiger. Never, never, never!

Oxford Mail:
Lulu in the recording studio

“The hits that work and really get people going are the big ones. And because some of the best reviews of my life were for my last album, I’ll be doing some of the songs on there too.”

That album, Making Life Rhyme is the first of her career on which she co-wrote most of the songs.

“I think I’m a rock & roll singer with a blues feel,” she says when I ask her to define her style.

“I do love black American music. I have always loved gospel and soul. My influences, growing up, were mainly black. And they used to tell me off in church because I would sing riffs.”

And what did the one-time Eurovision winner make of this year’s contest? “I never watch it,” she laughs. “Not since I was in it – and I couldn’t watch it then anyway.

“It’s not my thing. I know a lot of people get together and have a party, but not me. I’ve done it – and got the T-shirt.”

Did she enjoy taking part at the time? “It was nerve-wracking to be honest,” she says. “I didn’t want to do it but the BBC said it would get 20 million viewers on a Saturday night, and that it would be a great thing for Eurovision if I did it. I don’t sing Boom Bang-a-Bang now though. It doesn’t move my soul. I’d never give up Shout though.

“I’m very passionate and like to have fun on stage.

“I love it and still live for it.”

And does she have any style tips for Cornbury festival-goers? “I’m hoping this summer is going to be good, but the British public don’t care anyway. But bring some pretty wellies and an umbrella – and in case the sun comes out, a lot of protection and a hat. It used to be all about my hair, now it’s all about the hats!”

GO ALONG
Lulu plays Cornbury Festival, Great Tew.
The festival runs from July 1-12.
Go to cornburyfestival.com