Departures of note

Lena Martell was a Scottish singer and entertainer who became the first solo Scottish female singer to top the UK singles chart, reaching number one in October 1979 with her cover of "One Day at a Time". The single sold almost three million copies and remained on the chart for 36 weeks, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. She placed six albums in the UK Albums Chart between 1974 and 1980, including four top-20 entries. Born Helen Thomson in Glasgow, she began singing as a child with her elder brother's band and later performed with the Jimmie McGregor Band at the Barrowland Ballroom, receiving her first recording contract at 16. In the 1970s she hosted her own BBC prime-time television series for about a decade, entertaining audiences of more than 12 million a week, and she appeared on Top of the Pops in 1979. Her career also took her to the United States, where she worked on Broadway, understudying Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, and performed in New York and Las Vegas alongside Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Streisand. She recorded around thirty albums over a career spanning theatre, cabaret, cruise ships and concert halls.