Lena Martell, the 'Scottish Shirley Bassey' who outsold Barbra Streisand and topped charts, dies aged 86

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.

Lena Martell, the first Scottish female solo artist to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart, died last week aged 86 in a nursing home near Glasgow, where she was still receiving fan mail. Born Helen Thomson in Possilpark, she won Britain's first televised talent show as a teenager, signed her first recording contract at 16, and went on to sell almost 20 million records. Her 1979 hit 'One Day at a Time' spent five weeks at number one in four countries and set a Guinness World Record by staying in the charts for 36 weeks. She never lost her Glasgow accent despite performing on Broadway alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.

She understudied Barbra Streisand in Broadway's 'Funny Girl', and sold out the London Palladium for a week solid.

Iain Gordon, former manager of Glasgow's Pavilion Theatre, called her 'the last of Scotland's music hall greats' with 'a big voice and a big stage presence'.

Martell returned home after falling homesick, landing her own prime-time Saturday night BBC show that ran for 10 years and drew over 11 million viewers.