Child pop-star. Born in modest surroundings at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Zavaroni was launched on television's Opportunity Knocks in 1974. She is remembered for her huge voice and the song Ma! He's making eyes at me. At the age of just 10 years, she toured the world, including Japan and the USA, where she sang for US President Gerald Ford at the White House and appeared with Frank Sinatra and Liza Minelli in Los Angeles. At the age of 12, she was the youngest-ever performer at a Royal Variety Performance, in front of Queen Elizabeth II. By the age of 14, she had her own television show.
Her fall from stardom was as sudden as her rise, and money was sufficiently short that she was dependent on state benefits in the latter part of her life.
She suffered from the eating disorder anorexia through much of her life and despite searching for a cure, the illness led to her early death in Cardiff (Wales).
