Lulu has said she does not speak before noon on days she is performing to preserve her voice.

The Scottish singer, 75, has announced her next set of gigs will be a “farewell tour with family and friends”.

She will continue to work and sing but has previously said that her last tour was “gruelling”.

Old Vic Bicentenary Ball – London
Lulu (Yui Mok/PA)

Explaining her strict regime when she is on tour, she told BBC News: “I don’t speak before 12 noon.

“I can understand why you think I’m lying. But no. I’m very disciplined.”

She added: “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.”

Born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Lulu had to cancel more than 30 dates of her 2023 UK tour due to the lingering effects of long Covid.

She said: “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’.”

She will embark on her farewell tour, celebrating 60 years in music, in April, starting with a show in Glasgow – her home city.

Lulu shot to fame aged just 15 when Shout, a cover of the Isley Brothers track, became a hit.

In 1969 she represented Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest and her song Boom Bang-A-Bang was the joint winner that year as she shared the prize with France, the Netherlands and Spain with 18 points each.