Lena Martell, Scottish singing legend behind 'One Day at a Time', dies aged 86
Scottish singer Lena Martell, whose 1979 hit "One Day at a Time" sold 2.5 million copies and made her the first Scottish female solo artist to top the charts, has died aged 86.
Scottish singing legend Lena Martell has died at the age of 86 after a short illness. She is believed to have died peacefully in a care home.
Martell topped the charts in 1979 with the country favourite “One Day at a Time”, her signature tune. It sold 2.5 million copies — a record for any British female singer — stayed in the charts for 36 weeks, and spent five weeks at No 1 in four countries, making her the first Scottish female solo artist to reach No 1.
Born Helena Thomson in Hamiltonhill, north Glasgow, she went on to sell almost 20 million records. She starred on Broadway alongside Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli, and fronted her own BBC prime-time show from 1971 that ran for 10 years, drawing more than 11 million viewers.
In recent years she lived a quiet life at home in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, with her long-term partner David.
Tributes were led by Iain Gordon, former manager of Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre, and Dougie Stevenson of Scot Disc. No cause of death beyond a short illness has been disclosed.
Sources: The Sun — https://www.thesun.ie/tvandshowbiz/17719254/lena-martell-death-86/
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