Lena Hilda Zavaroni[3] (4 November 1963 – 1 October 1999) was a Scottish singer and television show host.

She was discovered in the summer of 1973 by record producer Tommy Scott, who was on holiday in Rothesay and heard her singing in a band with her father and uncle.

[citation needed] In 1974, Zavaroni appeared on Opportunity Knocks (hosted by Hughie Green) and won the show for a record-breaking five weeks running.

(He's Making Eyes at Me), a collection of classic and then-recent pop standards which reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart.

Signed to the soul-oriented Stax Records label in the United States, Zavaroni was not especially successful in America despite the praise and television appearances; her Ma album did not enter the charts, and its title single only reached number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 during a four-week chart run in the summer of 1974.

[citation needed] While attending London's Italia Conti Academy stage school, Zavaroni met and became long-term friends with another young star, Bonnie Langford.

The same year, Zavaroni's mother Hilda died of a tranquilliser overdose, and a fire destroyed all of her show business mementos.

[8] After the operation, she appeared to be in satisfactory condition, and after a week she was "making telephone calls, cheerful and engaging in conversation", even asking her doctor if he thought there was any chance that she would get back on stage and sing again.

[1] Although some reports said that the surgery was a lobotomy (also known as a leucotomy), the hospital said that it was not, and the treatment was intended for depression, rather than anorexia, as was rumoured at the time.

[8] A BBC Scotland documentary, Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star, was first broadcast in September 2024.