The Man With The Golden Gun Theme

This is the song that started this entire series of blog posts.  After a viewing of The Man with the Golden Gun on a date night with my wife in Dallas, I began wondering how in the world the theme song’s singer got the gig to sing the James Bond theme.  She is among the likes of Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, Aha, Tina Turner, Madonna, and Adele.  However, I knew nothing about the singer.

 

 

John Barry and Don Black returned to compose and write the lyrics to “The Man with the Golden Gun.”  You can find their biographies here and here.

 

The newcomer to the 007 film series to sing the title song was born as Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie on November 3, 1948.  She is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who is best known by her stage name, which is simply Lulu.  Gaining international attention with her rendition of the theme song to the film To Sir, With Love in 1967, Lulu went on to become a big star in Europe with the Eurovision Song Contest winning entry “Boom Bang-a-Bang” and the crowd pleasing “Shout,” which was originally recorded by the Isley Brothers but Lulu’s version was performed at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

 

While still a teenager, Lulu was signed to Decca Records and when she was only 15 she recorded her initial version of “Shout.”  She would record the single again in 1986.  The first version peaked at number seven on the UK music charts.  Lulu’s second top ten hit was “Leave a Little Love.”

 

In 1966, Lulu toured Poland with the Hollies, making her the first British female singer to appear behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.  Following two hit singles with the Luvvers, Lulu went on to start a solo career.  After switching record labels, she returned to the UK singles chart with “The Boat That I Row,” a song written by Neil Diamond.  While touring with the Monkees in 1968, Lulu had a brief romance with Davy Jones.

 

Her television and film career began with a starring role in To Sir, With Love.  Her performance of the film’s theme song resulted in a number one hit in the United States.  She had a television series that featured music and comedy, which ran under several titles from 1968 to 1975.

 

Although she had mild musical success in later decades, nothing was quite as popular as her 60s tunes.  She married hairdresser John Frieda in 1977 and had one son, but the couple divorced in 1991.

 

Adopting the name Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, which was her late mother’s birth name before she was adopted by the McDonald family, she received an OBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2000.  She released her autobiography in 2002, titled I Don’t Want to Fight.

 

It should be noted as somewhat of a coincidence that while Lulu is the only performer of a James Bond theme song, “The Man with the Golden Gun” is the only Bond title track to not chart as a single in either the US or UK.

 

Alice Cooper has made the claim that his song “The Man with the Golden Gun” was originally to be used by the film’s producers but was then dropped in favor of Lulu’s song.  Cooper later included the track on his album Muscle of Love.  You can listen to it here.