Christened Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Lulu's upbringing in post-war Glasgow was more Rab C Nesbitt than The Broons. Her father, an offal dresser, was a hard drinker and her parents regularly fought. By the age of 12, Lulu was already performing on stage. At 13 she happened to catch the legendary rocker Alex Harvey (later of Sensational Band fame) performing a stirring Isley Brothers number in Scotland's answer to the Cavern. The song was called Shout. Two years later Lulu was singing it on Ready Steady Go!. Her record company, Decca, actually had to wait until she turned 15 before they could legally release the single. This still didn't prevent a school's inspector calling on her parents' six months later and demanding to know why she hadn't been attending school. Her mother, Lulu maintains, retorted; "Do ye nae read the papers or watch TV? She's a pop star."

And indeed she was; and then a film star with a lead role in To Sir With Love and then a television personality with her own series Happening for Lulu and when, in 1969, Eurovision beckoned, Lulu did not shirk, notching up a rare, if tied, victory for Britain with the evergreen Boom Bang-a-Bang. In 1972, at the grand old age of 23, she was honoured by Eamonn Andrews who presented her with a big red book and boldly claimed: "This is Your Life". As this autobiography shows, he proved to be somewhat premature. The break-up of her marriage to Maurice Gibb, motherhood and collaborations with David Bowie, Elton John and Take That were all yet to come. --Travis Elborough

Synopsis
The memoir of the small girl (5 foot 1 inch tall) with the huge voice. At the age of 15, in 1964, Lulu - born Marie Lawrie in Glasgow - was already a star with her international hit song "Shout". At 18 she stole hearts as an English schoolgirl to Sidney Poitier's teacher with the movie hit "To Sir With Love". At 21, she married a Bee Gee, Maurice Gibb, and tied as winner of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Boom-Bang-a-Bang". Yet in 1993 she reached No.1 with "Relight My Fire" (with Take That). Nearly 40 years at the top of the showbiz tree, Lulu has never been afraid to experiment with new trends, and her book reflects the daring that took a girl from a Glasgow tenement to international stardom - or as "To Sir With Love" says, "from crayons to perfume". "I Don't Want to Fight" (the title of a song Lulu wrote and Tina Turner recorded) is the candid autobiography of a singer who has never shirked from facing anything.