Lena Zavaroni

Lena Zavaroni
Born	4 November 1963(1963-11-04) Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland
Origin	Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland
Died	1 October 1999(1999-10-01) (aged 35)
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1974–1986

Lena Hilda Zavaroni (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish child singer and a television show host. With her album Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me at ten years of age, she is the youngest person in history to have an album in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart. Later in life she hosted TV shows and appeared on stage. She died at the age of 35 after a long battle with anorexia nervosa.

Career

Early life

Lena was born in Greenock and grew up in the small town of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute with musical parents, who owned a fish and chip shop. Father Victor Zavaroni played the guitar, mother Hilda sang, and Lena herself sang from the age of two. Her Italian surname came from her immigrant grandfather.

She was discovered in the summer of 1973 by record producer Tommy Scott, who was on holiday in Rothesay and heard her singing with her father and uncle in a band. Scott contacted impresario Phil Solomon, which led to his partner Dorothy Solomon's becoming Zavaroni's manager.'

Career in music

In 1974 Lena 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, a collection of classic and then-recent pop standards which reached number eight in the UK album chart. At 10 years, 146 days old, Zavaroni is still the youngest person to have an album in the Top 10 and was also the youngest person to appear on the BBC's Top of the Pops.

Zavaroni also sang at a Hollywood charity show with Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball in 1974, at which Ball commented, "You’re special. Very special and very, very good," although some sources attribute the words to Sinatra. Following this, Zavaroni guest-starred on The Carol Burnett Show. She also appeared in The Morecambe and Wise Show, the 1976 Royal Variety Show and performed at the White House for US President Gerald Ford. Signed to the soul-oriented Stax Records label in the United States, Zavaroni did not make much of a chart impact Stateside despite the praise and television appearances, as her Ma album failed to chart and its title single made it only to #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a four-week chart run in the summer of 1974.

Stage and TV career

While attending London's Italia Conti Academy stage school, Lena met and became long-term friends with child star Bonnie Langford. The two starred in the TV special Lena and Bonnie.

Between 1979 and 1982, Lena had her own TV series on the BBC, Lena Zavaroni and Music, which featured singing and dancing, and included guests such as Spike Milligan, Elaine Stritch, and Les Dawson.

Later years

From the age of 13, Zavaroni suffered from anorexia nervosa. While at stage school, her weight dropped to 56 lb (4 stone or 25 kg). Zavaroni blamed this on the pressure placed upon her to fit into costumes while at the same time she was "developing as a woman."

She continued to suffer from anorexia throughout the 1980s, and in 1989 she married computer consultant Peter Wiltshire. The couple settled in north London but separated 18 months later. Also in 1989, Zavaroni's mother, Hilda, died of a tranquilliser overdose and a fire destroyed all of her showbiz mementos.

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, although the charges were later dropped.

Illness

Zavaroni underwent a number of drug treatments and received electroconvulsive therapy in an attempt to beat her anorexia. Her inquest was told that none of these had been successful in the long term. In addition she was suffering from depression and begged doctors to operate on her to relieve her depression. Although the operation would not cure her anorexia, she was desperate for it to proceed and threatened suicide (she also took a drug overdose) if it did not.

In September 1999 Zavaroni was admitted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for a psychosurgical operation. After the operation, she appeared to be in a satisfactory condition and 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. However, three weeks after the operation, she developed a chest infection and died from pneumonia on October 1. She weighed less than 70 lb (five stone or 32 kg).

Although the press at the time of her death reported that the surgery done was a leucotomy (also known as a lobotomy), the hospital said the medical procedure was not, in fact, a lobotomy nor meant as a cure for anorexia but as a cure for depression.

Biopic

Tim Whitnall is currently developing a screenplay based on the life story of Lena Zavaroni in conjunction with Fiveasidefilms Films and Scottish Screen.

Popular culture

• Lena Zavaroni is mentioned in the song Knickerbocker by the Brighton group Fujiya & Miyagi.

• The Andrew O'Hagan novel Personality depicts a child singer from Bute seemingly based on Lena Zavaroni.

• In the second series of the TV show Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, the character Barry Taylor (played by Timothy Spall) brags of a trophy he won as a child which now sits on his parents' mantle-piece "next to my brother's signed photograph of Lena Zavaroni."

• In the episode "Contest", in the first series of British comedy series, Bottom, Richie compares putting up with Eddie's complaints about his food preparation as "like living with Lena Zavaroni!"

• Lena Zavaroni is also mentioned in the episode "Daylight Robbery on the Orient Express" of British comedy series The Goodies

• Her interview with Lucy Meacock is mentioned in The Lancashire Hotpots song 'Lucy Meacock' from the album 'Achtung Gravy'.

Discography

Albums

• Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me (Philips [UK], Stax [US], 1974) #8 UK (her only album released in the US; all other albums shown are UK releases)
• If My Friends Could See Me Now (Philips, 1974)
• The Lena Zavaroni Collection (Pickwick, 1975) (2-LP repackage of her first two albums)
• Presenting Lena Zavaroni (Galaxy, 1978)
• Songs Are Such Good Things (Galaxy, 1980)
• Lena Zavaroni And Her Music (Galaxy, 1981)
• Hold Tight, It's Lena (BBC Records, 1982)

Singles

• "Ma! (He's Making Eyes at Me)" (1974) #10 UK, #91 US
• "(You've Got) Personality" (1974) #33 UK
• "You're Breaking My Heart"
• "Smile"
• "Some of These Days" (1976)
• "Air Love" (1977)
• "Should've Listened to Mama (1978)
• "Somewhere South of Macon" (1979)
• "Jump Down Jimmy" (1980)
• "Will He Kiss Me Tonight" (1980)
• "Roses and Rainbows" (1981)
• "Hold Tight!" (1982)

External links

• Lena Zavaroni at the Internet Movie Database