Lulu

 "For the first 25 years of my career I found it very difficult to refuse work. I emerged from my childhood with a good work ethic, but only because I was fueled by the fear of not having enough."

After her initial success with a cover of "Shout" reaching #7 in 1964, Lulu (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) went on to establish herself as one of the biggest-selling British female singers of the 1960s. She made her film debut in "To Sir, with Love" (1967, below), starring Sidney Poitier, and performed the title song, which went to No. 1 in the U.S., but was only released as a B-side in the UK with the A-side, "Let's Pretend," making #11.

Surprisingly, this film's iconic theme song was not nominated as Best Original Song for either the Academy Awards nor the Golden Globes. The Oscar went instead to "Talk to the Animals" from the box-office bomb "Doctor Dolittle" (1967). "To Sir With Love" finished the year number one on the Billboard Top One-Hundred List. and none of the songs nominated for Best Original Song Oscars broke into the year '67 top 100. Only the nominated "The Look of Love" was number 36 in the following year's Billboard List.

Happy Birthday, Lulu!