Lulu is set to take to the stage at Glastonbury this year for one final time after announcing her retirement from touring.
The singer, 75, told fans in February she would be doing no more live gigs on the road after her current tour following a glittering 60-year career – saying she felt ‘unsupported’ dealing with the heavy demands of touring last year.
Her Champagne with Lulu tour wraps at the London Palladium next week but she has a performance booked i in at Worthy Farm’s world famous festival in June.
She first performed at Glastonbury nine years ago in 2015 and will perform this year in the Field of Avalon.
A source told The Sun: ‘Lulu is going to be announced as a performer at Glastonbury next week.
Lulu, 75, is set to take to the stage at Glastonbury this year for one final time after announcing her retirement from touring (pictured last month)
‘It’s a massive deal for her and she can’t wait to play the Avalon stage.
‘When Glasto organiser Emily Eavis got in touch about going down to the farm she couldn’t turn it down.
‘It will be an emotional moment for her as it’s the last time she will ever play Glastonbury.
‘It was magical for her when she last played on that same stage in 2015.’
The Scottish pop star previously spoke about her 2015 Glastonbury performance, saying she was delighted with the reaction she got from the crowd.
She told HELLO! magazine a year after her performance, in 2016: ‘As I went on stage at Glastonbury, the roar from the crowd was deafening.
‘I was very surprised as I didn’t really know what to expect. It was just fantastic and I had so much fun.
‘My younger brother Billy is a musician and he told me that all the angels were looking down on me because the sound was perfect, the lighting good and the crowd was fabulous.’
She first performed at Glastonbury nine years ago in 2015 and will perform this year in the Field of Avalon (pictured at Glastonbury in 2015)
Lulu is seen on stage during the opening night of her final tour at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow, Scotland on Tuesaday
Her Champagne with Lulu tour wraps at the London Palladium next week but she has a performance booked i in at Worthy Farm’s world famous festival in June
It comes after Lulu revealed the very normal activity she refuses to do before midday while touring.
She told the BBC: ‘I don’t speak before 12 noon. I can understand why you think I’m lying but no, I’m very disciplined.
‘I try not to come out of my room until 12. It makes it easier. I take care of my instrument. It allows me to sing.’
Following speculation that she was considering quitting touring, Lulu told the Rosebud podcast in February: ‘I’m announcing it for the first time now – this is my farewell tour.’
She has promised to make the concerts – starting on April 9 in Glasgow and ending at the London Palladium – memorably different, with family and famous friends appearing at the shows and a number likely to perform with her on stage.
On her final series of gigs she added to the BBC: ‘To be honest with you, if when I was 15 years old and someone would have suggested I’d be doing a farewell tour when I’m 75, I’d have said “You are having a laugh.”
‘You almost need an army to go on the road and I don’t want to do it like this anymore.’
The tour is also expected to include conversation about her career.
Lulu has announced her retirement from touring following a glittering 60-year career (Lulu pictured in 1966, just two years into her career)
Although not wanting to give precise details away, she guaranteed her fans they will hear her 1969 Eurovision Song Contest winning hit Boom Bang-a-Bang.
Lulu, honoured with an OBE and CBE, said previously: ‘I’m not going to tell you exactly what I’m going to do, but of course I’ll have to do Boom Bang-a-Bang. The audience want to do it by themselves anyway. You can’t not give people what they want – and more.
‘If you’ve ever seen me on tour, just let me say, you won’t have seen me like this.
‘This is actually – I’m announcing it for the first time now – this is my farewell tour, with family, and friends.
‘Because last year I did a tour that was kind of gruelling – it was successful, it went well – but you need an army to be a success in your career these days.’
Suggesting she may concentrate on her acting, she added: ‘And I felt unsupported. But then I turned 75, and I thought ‘you know what, I want to carry on working, but I want to do it a different way. I’ve learned…
‘And I’ve also become a slightly different person. I’m not afraid to be vulnerable.’
Possible tour guests are Lulu’s past musical collaborators Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney. Sting, Take That and Westlife.
The Scottish star, real name Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, said she found going on the road ‘gruelling’, while adding she’s realised over the past 12 months that she has changed
It was at the age of just 15 when her version of the Isley Brothers Shout peaked at number seven on the UK chart and she went on to have a hit with with the title song to the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.
The name of her final tour, The Champagne for Lulu tour, was inspired by a line from her appearance in Ab Fab, which has led people to shout the words to her all over the world.
The closing Palladium date will be on the exact 60th anniversary of her hit ‘Shout’.
Lulu later spoke about her celebrity experiences, including meeting David Bowie, , who produced her 1974 cover of his 1970 song The Man Who Sold the World, which hit No. 3 on the UK charts and was a Top 10 hit across Europe; of course the song
She told The Guardian: ‘I first met him in a studio in the US with Iggy Pop…
‘Later, he walked over to me in the foyer of a hotel in Sheffield, invited me to his show that night and said: “I wanna make a hit record with you.” Which is exactly what happened…
‘The record company wanted me to be a little pop diva but he said: “They don’t get your voice.” I loved Hunky Dory and he looked as if he hadn’t wiped his makeup off from the day before. His hair was orange, his skin was alabaster…
‘Once we’d had something to drink we were head-to-head, nose-to-nose for the rest of the evening.’
Speaking about her experiences with The Rolling Stones, she amazingly stated: ‘The Stones would pat me on the head, like I was a little sister, which always annoyed me because I wanted to be their equal.’
Lulu was then asked: ‘Is it true that you took Pete Townshend round to your folks’ house in Glasgow for tea and biscuits?’.
She then regaled: ‘It wasn’t just Pete, it was at least Pete and Roger [Daltrey]. It may even have been the whole band, and my parents’ flat was very small…
‘The Who supported me in Glasgow when they were the High Numbers, but it wasn’t tea and biscuits. My dad was a big drinker, so he sent out for half a bottle of whisky and six cans of lager. I still bump into Roger…
‘Nothing can replicate the history you’ve got with people from when you were young.’