Tragic Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni told to lose weight by manager when she was only 10
She was the Scottish child star who won the hearts of millions of viewers on a TV talent show.
Lena Zavaroni's voice would take her from Rothesay on the Isle of Bute to Top of the Pops, the Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood and the White House.
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But her career was effectively over by the time she was 18 due to health problems. She died of pneumonia at the age of 35 after prolonged battles with anorexia and depression.


Now a new TV documentary will lift the lid on how she was treated behind the scenes, including pressure to lose weight when she was just ten years old and pressure to gain more weight when she had her own TV series as a teenager.
A new interview with Ms Zavaroni's father Victor features in the documentary, which will be screened on the BBC Scotland channel on October 6, along with fellow Scottish child star Neil Reid and former BBC executive Mike Crisp.
Ms Zavaroni was snapped up by husband-and-wife music industry managers Philip and Dorothy Solomon after she was spotted singing in Rothesay. The couple secured her an appearance on the ITV show Opportunity Knocks, which she was voted top act on for five weeks in a row in 1974.
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They persuaded Mr Zavaroni and his wife Hilda to allow Lena to move to London to live with them to pursue her career. The documentary features an interview with TV presenter Russell Harty in 1976, when she was 12.
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She tells him: "I used to have some weight problems. I used to eat crisps and sweets. I came to London and, of course, I went on TV and looked too fat. They could get nothing to fit me."
Watching the footage, Mr Zavaroni says: "Why would she be discussing her diet? Someone must have put the thought into her head."
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The programme recalls an interview Mrs Solomon gave in 1974, when the singer was only ten.
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Hide AdMrs Solomon is reported to have said: "We were buying clothes and I put it to her that she really did need to lose some weight. She has been very good at cutting out all those unnecessary extras. She was a pudgy little thing. She used to weigh about half a stone more."
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Mr Reid, who appeared on Opportunity Knocks in 1971, said: "I was a chubby little boy, so I was given an incentive. For every pound I lost, I would be paid a pound. That was my management, Philip and Dorothy, sending that message."
Ms Zavaroni attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, where she met singers and actresses Bonnie Langford and Lisa Maxwell.
Recalling her arrival in an interview, Ms Zazaroni said: "The first day I noticed that all the girls were really skinny and I was a little dumpling."
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Hide AdMs Langford, who appeared in a one-off TV special with Ms Zavaroni, said: "We would sit together and I'd have my packed lunch. She'd say 'I've had something'. I would go: 'Have you really?'
"She looked slim, she looked too slim, but maybe that slipped through the net."
Ms Maxwell said: "I remember her looking like the girl off the telly and knowing her straight away. I remember she went away a bit. Then I remember her looking thinner, quite quickly. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the idea of beauty was very thin women.
"We knew that there were people who were making themselves sick, but we didn't know it had a name.”
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Hide AdThe Zavaronis moved to London to try to help their 16-year-old daughter overcome her health problems.
He said: "She was losing more weight. I tried to make her eat. Night after night after night, it seemed to be getting worse. She went through tonnes of food, but all she did was put it in her mouth and spit it back out again. I couldn't stop her. It was soul-destroying."
Ms Zavaroni made four TV series with the BBC between 1979 and 1982.
Mr Crisp recalled raising concerns about the health of Ms Zavaroni while she was making her show Lena, which was produced by the late Stewart Morris.
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Hide AdMr Crisp said: "Stewart Morris was given the Lena Zavaroni show because he was the tops. He was the best man to produce and direct big variety shows. Unfortunately, he was a monster."
Mr Zavaroni recalled: "The producer wanted to see me. He said: 'There is over £1 million getting paid into this. Can't you make your daughter eat?’ I said: 'No, I can't.' He said: 'Can you not force her?' I think they put Lena into a hospital for a while to try to get her built up, but they couldn't make her eat."
Mr Crisp added: "It was becoming appallingly apparent that Lena wasn't eating. I went to the bosses and said 'we shouldn't be doing this show, she's too ill'.
"Things went from bad to worse. I went to see the bosses again. I was told that if I didn't shut up I could forget my career in light entertainment.
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Hide Ad"By show six, she was throwing up in the dressing room and refusing to come out, having been forced to eat. Stewart Morris was screaming in my ear 'get the cow out'. I had an audience wondering what the hell was going on.
"It was becoming increasingly obvious that Lena was too ill to proceed. But there were huge pressures and theatrical tours dependent on that series being completed."
Ms Zavaroni said his daughter's singing career effectively ended in 1982 in Merseyside, weeks before she was admitted to hospital at the age of 18.
He recalled: "I can remember when she did her last show. Lena walked out all dressed up with her back to the audience and the orchestra in front of her. I saw her shoulders shaking. I ran round the back and she was crying on stage. It was the first time that had ever happened.
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Hide Ad"I took her to the car. I phoned up the Solomons and said: 'It looks as if Lena's not well enough to do it.' It was more or less over after that."
Mr Solomon died in 2011 and Mrs Solomon was said to be not well enough to take part in the documentary.
A BBC spokesperson said: "As these allegations relate to events from over 40 years ago and involve a former member of staff who is now deceased, it is difficult to comment in detail.
"However, the BBC of today is very different from that of the 1970s or 1980s. We would not expect the experiences described in the film to be repeated today.
"We take our duty of care very seriously and have a number of measures in place to safeguard the welfare of those who take part in our programmes."
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