Lena Zaveroni, a tragic Scottish Karen Carpenter

[stuart.uk]

they really wern't really simaliar musically, but Lena Zaveroni and Karen Carpenter both died young after suffering from eating disorders. i know most in America won't know of her, but i hope you bear with me as i pay tribute to a sadly missed young lady.

at the age of 9 Lena appeared on Hughie Green's Oportunity Knocks talent show winning a record number of shows, performing with a booming voice similiar to Shirley Bassey. this led to a big hit Ma He's Making Eyes At Me and a trip to Hollywood, meeting Frank Sinatra and appearing on Johnny Carson's Tonight show and singing her hit song.

there were rumours of an eating disorder even then, because she had a bit of puppy fat she wanted rid off. however, in her early teens, her career appeared in full swing singing There's Something About You Baby I like with comic legends Morcambe And Wise and Be A Clown with Bruce Forsyth on their respective tv shows. as well as being a great singer, Lena was also a great mimic and could do May West and Lulu. i believe Lulu is the best female artist to come out of Scotland, but Lena had more natural talent and had she lived a normal healthy life would have acheived true greatness, at least IMO. as a singer she was maturing into another Judy Garland.

Lena enrolled at a stage school with another Oportunity Knocks winner and child star Bonnie Langford. both co-hosted their own tv special while still at the school and while Lena was the more gifted of the two it has been Bonnie, now in her 40s, who has acheived her potential, becoming one of Britian's greatest female all-round entertainers.

Lena then had her own successful tv series and she was bloosming into a beautiful young woman, but the pressures of hosting her own series at 16 took their toll and the eating disorder returned with Lena retiring from show buisness.

a few yrs later she made a great comeback on the Des O'Conner Tonight chat show talking about her illness, before singing a brilliant version of Andrew Llyod Webber's Memory. however, it was short lived and she appeared to retire again. there were other attempts at a comeback, appearing in Summer seasons, but eventually she gave it all up for good, though wheather she still thought she'd come back is now speculation. the fact anytime she wanted to come back to performing, it was clear she'd be welcomed back with open arms is testement as to how good everyone thought she was as a performer.

sadly Lena died at 35. i just wished i could have written and sent an email telling her as i said earlier that she was potentially the best singing star to come out of Scotland.

[jdb1]

Wow, Stuart- I didn't know that about Lena. I remember her very well; she appeared on many TV variety shows in the US when she was a girl, not just as a performer, but on talk shows as well. She seemed very smart, and was very articulate (and the hosts used to love to imitate her accent). It was always either her or Piccola Pupa (remember her?) on such shows.

I hadn't heard her name mentioned for decades - that is really too bad.

[stuart.uk]

Judith

Lena actually got her eating disorder at stage school. unlike classmate Bonnie Langford, who was a great dancer, Lena felt out of place in dance classes. she also worried about her puppy fat that was perfectly natural in a girl so young.

she also found it difficult, though she had massive talent, to ajust to an adult star. she felt though a young woman the audience were still looking at her as if she was still little Lena.

there is plenty of material of her on you tube, both as a child and adult performer

[jdb1]

Now that you mention it, John, I do remember her "brassy" voice, and how her whole face sometimes vibrated with the effort of her singing.

(In my mind, I'm kind of melding the images of Lena and the young Jennifer Love Hewitt. They must have had a similar look at some point, say, age 10 or 11. Dark hair, braids, lots of energy . . . . . ????)

[stuart.uk]

i don't think American's got to see the more mature Lena, as she was in her mid teens, or when she made her occassional comebacks in her 20s, but she was a great talent. possible stage school wasn't good for her, she maybe might have done better learning her trade by experience of live performing. then again, in her teens she still would have needed to go to school anyway.

i watched her as a little girl yesterday on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. i forgot how little she was back then. i think she secret of her success as a child star, she could belt out a song like an adult. as she got older, Lena seemed to tone down her voice as she matured for the better.

i take it her stage pal Bonnie Langford is a complete unknown in America. she played Diana Dors daughter Violet Elizabeth 'I'll scream and scream until i'm sick' in a 1970s version of Just William. she's played Peter Pan, Roxy in Chicago, Sweet Charity and was i think Sylvester Mcoy's assistant in Doctor Who. 3-yrs ago she was robbed of victory in, getting knocked out in the semis of the first series of Dancing On Ice, where celebs did skating routines with professionals. (i think it was tried, but didn't take off in America, but it was and still is a huge hit over here) she was recently touring with a road show of the skating series, wowing audiences with her already renowned dancing skills with her now brilliant skating

[Moraldo Rubini]

I remember her as a frequent guest on Merv Griffin's show. I've often wondered whatever happened to her, and am sorry to hear this how her story ended. I only remember her as a child performer; I never saw her during her 20's nor early 30's though.

Thanks for the [albeit sad] update.

[knitwit45]

Jack/Moraldo!!!! where ya been, dude? You have been missed.

Welcome "home".

Nancy

[Moraldo Rubini]

Jack/Moraldo!!!! where ya been, dude? You have been missed.

Thanks Knitty! I don't want to take away from Lena, but I've been in Kaua'i and then some time in Yosemite and now off to Manhattan. I've only been home long enough to do laundry and repack. I even missed my hero Kevin Brownlow! =(

Glad to see you're still keeping things crackin' here.

Viva Oasis! Viva Lena Zaveroni!

[moviemagz]

I'm an American and I do remember Lena, she was about my age or maybe a little older. She had a rather strong publicity push for about six months or so, I remember seeing her on the TONIGHT SHOW which may have been the first time I ever saw that show (I remember Johnny looking at the album cover and lightly joking that a kid her age would sing "The End of the World'). I think she was on a few variety shows and other talk shows of the period and was written up a few times in magazines and newspapers and then that was pretty much it for her publicity in America. I wondered what happened to her and stumbled on information on her on the net a few years ago after her death.