Lulu says David Bowie once suggested she “lose a bit of weight” while the two were working together in the 1970s, a remark she recounts in her forthcoming memoir If Only You Knew, due Sept. 25.

In extracts published in British outlets, the 75-year-old performer describes sitting with Bowie on a night they planned to record his songs “The Man Who Sold the World” and “Watch That Man” when he made the comment, which she called an “ouch.” She also writes that Bowie had become increasingly nocturnal during their time together, a change she later learned was linked to cocaine use.

Lulu says she and Bowie collaborated on several tracks but that the pair never completed an album; she says a cache of recordings from their sessions remains unheard and that their whereabouts are unknown. The singer, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie in Glasgow, recounts in the memoir that sexual chemistry and music drew them together, but that Bowie's escalating drug use ultimately pushed her away.

Lulu, who rose to fame at age 15 with the 1964 hit “Shout,” said in previous interviews that the relationship was “amazing.” She later left Bowie for celebrity hairstylist John Frieda, marrying him in 1976; the couple had a son, Jordan, and split in 1991. Bowie died in 2016, two days after releasing his final studio album, Blackstar.

The forthcoming memoir follows Lulu’s 2017 autobiography I Don’t Want to Fight, in which she reflected on her life and career. In recent comments promoting the new book she described herself as having been guarded for much of her life, saying she had “always wanted to be Miss Perfect” and that allowing vulnerability made her feel “very real.”

Lulu is due to tour the U.K. later this month and is scheduled to perform at Glastonbury in what she has called her final touring appearance. She said she will include “Shout” in her set, calling the song part of an exchange between performer and audience: “You give them that part of you. They’re happy and you’re happy that they are.”

Her career has included royal honours: she was appointed an OBE in 2000 and upgraded to a CBE in 2021. Lulu has said she met the current king, then Prince of Wales, in 2000 and recalled feeling an early connection.

The claims about Bowie are based on Lulu’s account in her memoir. Media organizations that published excerpts contacted her representatives for comment; a DailyMail spokesperson said the publication had reached out for reaction. The memoir arrives as Lulu continues to mark a six-decade career that has spanned pop hits, stage work and public honours.

Her account adds to a body of recollections about Bowie’s personal life and working habits during the peak of his creativity and drug use. Bowie’s influence on other artists, and the unfinished collaborations and unreleased material tied to his later career, have been the subject of previous reporting and archival searches since his death.

If Only You Knew will be published Sept. 25.