Lena Zavaroni remembered: The tragic story of the Scottish child singing star from the Isle of Bute

Singer Lena Zavaroni became a record-breaking performer at the age of ten
Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1974. Picture: YPN Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1974. Picture: YPN
Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1974. Picture: YPN | YPN

The tragic life story of Lena Zavaroni, the child star from the Isle of Bute who shot to fame on a TV talent show when she was just ten years old, is to be told in a powerful new documentary.

The hour-long BBC Scotland show, which will be shown next month, will recall her prolonged battles with an eating disorder and depression before her death at the age of just 35.

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Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks.' Picture: Steve Wood/Express/Getty Images) Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks.' Picture: Steve Wood/Express/Getty Images)
Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni became a huge star at the age of 10 when she appeared on the TV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks.' Picture: Steve Wood/Express/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The documentary, Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star, features a new interview with the singer's father Victor, who encouraged her to enter the entertainment industry and saw her become the youngest singer to have a top ten album in the UK. She also shared a Hollywood stage with Frank Sinatra, performed at the White House for American President Gerald Ford and sang at the Royal Variety Performance.

Fellow child star Neil Reid, talent school classmates Bonnie Langford and Lisa Maxwell, and Ms Zavaroni's cousin Margaret will also feature in the documentary.

Victor and Lena Zavaroni Victor and Lena Zavaroni
Victor and Lena Zavaroni | Victor Zavaroni

The programme is being aired 40 years after she starred on ITV's Opportunity Knocks programme and 25 years after she passed away.

Mr Zavaroni tells the programme, which will be shown on the BBC Scotland channel on October 6, about first noticing that his daughter had lost weight, while she was studying at a performing arts school in England.

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He said: "She came home when she was coming up to Scotland for a couple of weeks. I noticed she was very, very thin. She shouldn’t be as thin as that, so I took her to the doctor. He says to me ‘your daughter has got anorexia nervosa’. I’d never heard the word ‘anorexia’, that’s for sure.”

Lena Zavaroni and Frank Sinatra in Hollywood. Picture: Stax Lena Zavaroni and Frank Sinatra in Hollywood. Picture: Stax
Lena Zavaroni and Frank Sinatra in Hollywood. Picture: Stax | Stax

Born in Greenock in 1963, Ms Zavaroni was brought up on Bute, where her family ran a fish and chip shop. The performer, who began singing at the age of two, was famously discovered singing in a pub in Rothesay, the main town in Bute, in 1973 by Scottish record producer, songwriter and singer Tommy Scott - who had previously worked with Twiggy, The Dubliners and Van Morrison's band Them - while he was on holiday.

Ms Zavaroni was swiftly snapped up by music industry manager Phil Solomon and his agent wife Dorothy, and moved to London to record her debut album and live with the couple in London. 

Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni in 1980. Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni in 1980.
Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni in 1980. | Victor Zavaroni

She was propelled into the limelight with a record-breaking run of wins on Opportunity Knocks and went on to appear in TV shows like The Morecambe and Wise Show and The Golden Shot. A promotional tour of America in 1974 saw her appear on The Johnny Carson Show and The Tonight Show, and perform at a charity event in Hollywood alongside Frank Sinatra.

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Although Ms Zavaroni would go on to get her own TV series with the BBC, she had retired from performing by the end of the 1980s after continued struggles with anorexia and depression.

She died in 1999 of pneumonia several weeks after an operation she hoped would help relieve her depression. Ms Zavaroni's story is told in her own words in the documentary by actress Erin Armstrong, who played the singer on stage in an acclaimed theatre production, which premiered two years ago.

Mr Zavaroni said: "There’s a lot of young people who don’t know Lena, but I’d like her to be remembered really because she had a great talent.”

A spokeswoman for BBC Scotland said: "A powerful tale of young talent, fame’s toll and a heart-breaking struggle with an eating disorder, compelling documentary Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star remembers the little girl with a big voice from the Isle of Bute who captured the nation’s heart."

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