Lena Zavaroni
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Lena Hilda Zavaroni<ref>The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. From the earliest times to 2004. Edited by Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes and Sian Reynolds. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2006</ref> (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer. At the age of 10, with her debut album Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me), she was the youngest person to have had an album in the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. Later, she starred in her own television series, made numerous TV guest-star appearances, and appeared on stage.
From age 13 Zavaroni suffered anorexia nervosa, and she developed clinical depression when she was 15. Following an operation to cure her depression, Zavaroni died at the age of 35 from pneumonia on 1 October 1999.
Life and career
Early life
Zavaroni was born in Greenock, Renfrewshire, and grew up in the small town of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute. Her parents owned a fish and chip shop. Her father Victor (b. 1939) played the guitar and her mother Hilda (née Jordan) (Template:C. 1940 – 1989) sang. Her grandfather Alfredo had emigrated from Italy.<ref name="BBC1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Zavaroni began singing at the age of two. She was discovered in the summer of 1973 by record producer Tommy Scott, who was on holiday in Rothesay and heard her singing in a band with her father and uncle. Scott contacted impresario Phil Solomon, which led to his partner Dorothy Solomon becoming Zavaroni's manager.Template:Citation needed
Musical career
Template:Refimprove section In 1974, Zavaroni appeared on Opportunity Knocks (hosted by Hughie Green) and won the show for a record-breaking five weeks running. She followed this with the album Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me), a collection of classic and then-recent pop standards which reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart. She remains the youngest person to have an album in the top 10, having reached the position at 10 years, 146 days old.<ref name="BBC2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Not in citation given
Zavaroni sang at a Hollywood charity show with Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball in 1974, at which Ball said: "You're special. Very special and very, very good", although some sourcesTemplate:Who attribute the words to Sinatra. Following this, Zavaroni guest-starred on The Carol Burnett Show, and on 4 June 1974, The Tonight Show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also appeared on The Morecambe and Wise Show, the 29 May 1975 episode of The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, in the 1976 Royal Variety Show and performed at the White House for U.S. President Gerald Ford. Signed to the soul-oriented Stax Records label in the United States, Zavaroni was not especially successful in America despite the praise and television appearances; her Ma album did not enter the charts, and its title single only reached number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a four-week chart run in the summer of 1974.Template:Citation needed
Stage and television career
While attending London's Italia Conti Academy stage school,<ref name="conti">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Zavaroni met and became long-term friends with another young star, Bonnie Langford.Template:Citation needed They starred in the ITV special Lena and Bonnie.<ref name="Bio2">Fuller Up Obituary. Template:Webarchive Retrieved 21 April 2006</ref> In September 1978, the BBC broadcast Lena Zavaroni on Broadway. This episode which was chosen for the 1978 Golden Sea Swallow Festival, where it won the silver award.<ref name="answers">Answers: Lena Zavaroni</ref><ref>Radio Times, 2–8 September 1978</ref>
In 1979, Zavaroni had her own TV series on the BBC titled Lena Zavaroni and Music and from 1980 to 1982 she had a TV series titled Lena.Template:Cn
Later years
From the age of 13, Zavaroni suffered from anorexia nervosa. While she was at stage school, her weight dropped to Template:Convert. She blamed this on the pressure placed upon her to fit into costumes while at the same time "developing as a woman".<ref name="BBC2"/> She continued to have anorexia throughout the 1980s.
In 1989, Zavaroni married computer consultant Peter Wiltshire. The couple settled in north London but separated 18 months later. The same year, Zavaroni's mother Hilda died of a tranquilliser overdose, and a fire destroyed all of her show business mementos.<ref name="BBC2"/>
After the breakup of her marriage, Zavaroni moved to Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, to be nearer to her father and his second wife. By this time, she was living on state benefits and, in 1999, was accused of stealing a 50p packet of jelly, but the charges were later dropped.<ref name="BBC2"/>
Health issues and death
Zavaroni underwent drug treatments and received electroconvulsive therapy in an attempt to end her depression. She begged doctors to carry out neurosurgery on her to relieve her depression. Although the procedure would not cure her anorexia, she was desperate for it to proceed, threatening suicide if it did not (she also took a drug overdose).<ref name="BBC4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In September 1999, Zavaroni was admitted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for the neurosurgical procedure. It took place on 7 September and was described as "pioneering".<ref name="BBC4"/> After the procedure, she appeared to be in satisfactory condition: after a week, she was "making telephone calls, cheerful and engaging in conversation", even asking her doctor if he thought there was any chance that she would get back on stage and sing again. However, three weeks after the operation, she contracted pneumonia, which saw her weight drop to less than Template:Convert. She died from bronchial pneumonia on 1 October.<ref name="BBC1"/>
Although some reports said that the surgery was a lobotomy (also known as a leucotomy), the hospital said that it was not, and the treatment was intended for depression, rather than anorexia, as was rumoured at the time.<ref name="BBC4"/><ref name="BBC3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Her funeral took place at the Roman Catholic Church of St Augustine in Hoddesdon on 15 October 1999, and she was buried later that day at Hoddesdon Cemetery in Hertfordshire.<ref name="BBC4"/>
Legacy
A BBC Scotland documentary, Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star, was first broadcast in September 2024. It aired on BBC Two in December 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Discography
Albums
- Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)<ref name="album1a">Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me) at discogs</ref><ref name="album1b">Ma! (He's Making Eyes At Me) at Pickwick Group ebay store</ref>
- If My Friends Could See Me Now
- Presenting Lena Zavaroni
- Songs Are Such Good Things
- Lena Zavaroni and Her Music
- Hold Tight, It's Lena
Compilations and live albums
- The Lena Zavaroni Collection<ref name="album3">The Lena Zavaroni Collection at discogs</ref> – Pickwick released a two-record set in 1976, made up of her first two albums.
- Lena Zavaroni in South Africa
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref> | {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | |||
| 1974 | "Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me) |
| 1974 | "(You've Got) Personality" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1975 | "You're Breaking My Heart" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1975 | "Music Music Music" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | If My Friends Could See Me Now |
| 1975 | "Smile" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1976 | "Some of These Days" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1977 | "Air Love" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | Presenting Lena Zavaroni |
| 1978 | "I Should've Listened to Mama" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | Songs Are Such Good Things |
| 1979 | "Somewhere South of Macon" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1980 | "Jump Down Jimmy" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1980 | "Will He Kiss Me Tonight?" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1981 | "Roses and Rainbows" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | non-album single |
| 1982 | "Hold Tight!" | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }} | Hold Tight, It's Lena |
References
External links
- [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 1078354
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- Template:BBC Online
- Lena Zavaroni at British Film Institute
Template:Lena Zavaroni Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
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- 1963 births
- 1999 deaths
- Deaths from anorexia nervosa
- Deaths from pneumonia in Wales
- Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
- History of mental health in the United Kingdom
- Italian Scottish musicians
- People from Greenock
- People from Rothesay, Bute
- 20th-century Scottish women singers
- Scottish child singers
- Scottish pop singers
- Scottish soul singers
- Rhythm and blues singers
- Scottish jazz singers
- Progressive rock musicians
- Stax Records artists
- E.G. Records artists
- Walt Disney Records artists
- Inside Out Music artists
- Scottish mezzo-sopranos
- Scottish Roman Catholics