Eurovision - A very special edition

Hello folks and welcome to a very special edition of my Eurovision specials.

The year was 1981, the date 4th April and in Dublin the Eurovision Song Contest was taking place. Jay Aston, Cheryl Baker, Bobby G and Mike Nolan, otherwise known as Bucks Fizz were representing the UK with Making Your Mind Up. With the German entry hot on their heels on the scoreboard, Bucks Fizz won by the smallest of margins. The rest is history.

33 years later and after several million record sales, sell out tours, countless television appearances, solo careers and many other things, it is with great delight and just a little bit of giddiness that I welcome original member Cheryl Baker to this Q&A special.

D. Hi Cheryl. Many thanks for taking time out from Happy Days for this Q&A special.

C. It's a pleasure.

D. Shall we start?

C. Fire away.

D. Other than winning the contest, what were your personal highlights from Eurovision 1981?

C. My personal highlight from winning Eurovision 1981 for me  was
afterwards when we got back to the  hotel and I rang home.  At that
time I lived in a council flat in Bethnal Green, East London and had
done all my life.  My sister answered the phone and screamed when she
heard my voice.  There were masses of cheers as our tiny flat was
rammed with friends, family and neighbours.  Sheila, my sister, told me
that when we were announced as winners, the whole block of flats
erupted - with people opening their windows and cheering on the
landings.  Although at that time I had just won possibly the biggest
international prize in music, my heart was in Bethnal Green with my
family.  After speaking to everyone, I could go back down to the
celebrations in the hotel and really start to enjoy myself.

D. Were you and the rest of Bucks Fizz confident the song would win?

C. The only one in the group who was confident that we would win was
Mike Nolan.  We were in Dublin for a week before the competition and
Mike was confident right up to the actual day, 4 April. When you hear
the other songs so often in rehearsals they start to grow on you and
this is what happened with Mike.  He said our biggest competition was
Germany and Switzerland and he was right - we beat Germany into second
place by just 4 points!

D. If you could travel back to Eurovision 1981 and perform for  a  different country, which one would you choose and why? Bare in mind it has to be a country that participated in the contest.

C. The country I would have chosen to perform for other than the UK
back in 1981 would have been  Ireland.  It was a 3 girl harmony group
and, as I love singing harmony, it would have suited me fine plus they
wore gorgeous dresses and they sang in English, a definite bonus with
me as I can't speak any other language!

D. How do you think Bucks Fizz would fare if they represented the UK today with the same song?

C. I would love to say Bucks Fizz could win today if we entered the
competition but in reality I am absolutely sure we wouldn't.  We were
perfect for 1981 but music has moved on and "Making Your Mind Up" would
be far too "cheesy" for today's competition which, I believe, is very
sophisticated now. 

D. What are your thoughts on today's Eurovision?

C. I think today's Eurovision is fantastic.  You cannot compare it
to when we won in 1981 -  just have a look on YouTube and see the
difference.  Ours was done in a television studio with barely any
staging.  Nowadays, the Eurovision is held in massive arenas with
fantastic lights, special effects and stage set.  Although we haven't
done very well in the votes  in the past few years (an
understatement!), I still think the competition as a television
programme is superior.

D. Throughout the history of the contest, who has been your favourite UK entry?

C. It is hard to say who my favourite UK entry is as I am such a
Eurovision fan that I have loved them all (well almost). I loved the
New Seekers in 1972 with Beg, Steal or Borrow, Prima Donna in 1980 with
Love Enough For Two, Sweet Dreams in 1983 with I'm Never Giving Up and
Scooch in 2007 with Flying The Flag.  Funny that they are all girl/boy
groups?

D. And who do you feel was the best act ever?

C. I suppose my all time favourite Eurovision act is Abba but I also
loved Nicole, Gigliola Cinquetti, Severine, Vicky Leandros and
Anne-Marie David.

D. Personally, I would love to see Mika represent the UK in a future contest. Who would you love to see?

C. I would love a band like Girls Aloud to represent the UK, or even
better Little Mix.

D. Do you think any of today's songwriters could write a winning song for the UK and if so, who?

C. Of course, any of today's song writers could write a winning
song, probably the safest bet as he writes so prolifically would be
Gary Barlow. 

D. Now for some Bucks Fizz questions. Of all the brilliant songs the group recorded, which are in your top 3 and why?

C. It is difficult for me to choose my absolute favourite but it
would be between Now Those Days Are Gone, New Beginning and Land of
Make Believe.   NTDAG is a favourite because of the vocal harmonies,
LOMB is because it reminds me of Christmas 1981 and NB because it is
such a powerful track.  I am personally very proud of all three of
those. 

D. And your favourite album? Mine is Hand Cut.

C. My favourite album is our second, Are You Ready?

D. You're currently touring with the Happy Days musical. How is it going and will we see you in the West End?

C. I am loving Marion Cunningham in Happy Days, The Musical,
although my first love is singing with Mike and Jay.  Acting is far
more stressful for me!  There is hope that the show will go into the
West End but nothing is written in stone yet.

D. Describe your perfect day.

C. My perfect day is getting up early and walking my dogs for ages,
and then coming home to have breakfast with Steve and the girls.
Doing an Asda shop, with my daughter, Kyla, having an amazing Sunday
roast dinner and then settling in front of the TV to watch Mr Selfridge
and Call The Midwife.

D. Your Twitter profile states "Refuse to grow old gracefully". Is this still the plan?

C. I absolutely  refuse to grow old gracefully.  I will continue to
wear too much make up, bleach my hair and wear inappropriate clothes.
Age is a number  - in my heart I am still a teenager. 

D. One final question. What is next for Cheryl Baker?

C. After Happy Days, The Musical, I will be working with Mike and
Jay doing festivals and eighties gigs up and down the country and
abroad.  Hope to see some of you there.

D. Many thanks Cheryl. It has been a pleasure talking with you today.

C. Thank you.

To find out where Cheryl, Jay and Mike will be performing this year and much more, pay a visit to their official website at

http://www.formerlyofbucksfizz.co.uk/home-1.html

To see Cheryl in the fabulous Happy Days - The Musical, check the official website for venues and dates at http://happydaysthemusical.com/home 

And that folks is my Eurovision special. A massive thank you to Cheryl and the best of luck for all her future projects. Also, many thanks to Cheryl's PA Elaine for all her help and for putting up with my constant barrage of emails.

All that remains is my top 3 acts for this years contest. Those who almost made it include Finland, F.Y.R Macedonia, Israel, Italy and San Marino. Here's hoping it's 3rd time lucky for Valentina Monetta who so deserved to be in the final for San Marino last year.
The lucky 3 this year are:


1. Conchita Wurst with "Rise Like a Phoenix (Austria)
http://youtu.be/ToqNa0rqUtY
2. Axel Hirsoux with "Mother" (Belgium)
 http://youtu.be/DV1hdkqGINU
3. Ruth Lorenzo with "Dancing in  the Rain (Spain)
 http://youtu.be/P9R96ZoWJBU


Tune in to BBC One/BBC One HD 10th May for the contest live from Copenhagen, Denmark.


Until next time, I bid thee farewell.



Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

So here it is folks. My all time favourite Eurovision song and I think quite a lot of you are going to think "really". Hopefully a few of you will also agree with my choice.

Number 1 - La Voix by Malena Ernman (Sweden)

That's right folks, La Voix is top of my Eurovision chart. I absolutely love this song. So much so,  I have listened to it on my ipod 238 times. More times than any other Eurovision song. Now that has to be some kind of record?

Malena represented Sweden in the 2009 contest. An opera singer, very famous in her home country and other parts of Europe, her coloratura mezzo-soprano vocals were put to good use in the song and to a dance soundtrack too. The whole thing blended perfectly to reveal what I believe to be a Eurovision classic.
Unfortunately, I think I was only person to think this as the song finished in 21st place. It failed to score with quite a few countries and only received low scores from those that did. Even the UK only gave it 1 point and that was probably courtesy of the gay audience.
I don't think it helped Sweden with Ms Ernman giving only an adequate performance on the night. On the high notes she was perfect but it was when she had to sing notes in a lower key that she had a few issues.
Here is the actual pop video to show you how it should have sounded.

I think you will agree that that sounds so much better doesn't it?

Despite the disastrous result in the contest, the song was released on download and cd.It reached number 2 in Sweden, number 19 in Finland, number 20 in Norway and 138 in the UK. Really UK..138? The UK position was, again, probably due to myself and a few more gays.

One thing that has surprised me the most is the lack of drag queens that have failed to incorporate this song into their routine. A lovely dress, blonde wig and a few scantily clad male dancers and hey presto, you have the start of a perfect nights entertainment.

I hope you have enjoyed my Eurovision Special as much as I have enjoyed looking back at the contest and writing about it. I've liked it so much, I have decided not to end on this edition of my blog.

Tune in next time when I will highlight my favourite three entries for this years Eurovision.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.



Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Just two more to go folks. Any ideas as to which act is going to make number one? Why not leave a message and we will see if you guess correctly.
And so to my penultimate Eurovision favourite.

Number 2 - L'oiseau et l'enfant by Marie Myriam (France)

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Marie represented and won the contest for France in 1977 with this amazing song.

I love the French language, so it is no surprise that a song or two in the language would feature in my top 10 and this one simply is the best. I do not speak or even understand French but this song is pure pleasure to my ears.

The song was released in the UK under the title The Bird and the Child and reached number 42 in the charts. It really should have been top 10 and shame on us Brits for not making it so.

You will have noticed the lovely Angela Rippon at the start of the video, who hosted the contest for that year. Though I am a gay man, I have always had the slightest of crushes on Ms Rippon. I think it was the dance routine she did on the Morcambe and Wise show that was the cause of this crush. Now aged 67, she still looks as stunning now as she did back then.

Until next time, when I will reveal my number one Eurovision act, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

So here we are folks...only 3 more to go on my Eurovision countdown.

Number 3 - Apres Toi by Vicky Leandros (Luxembourg)

Originally from Corfu, Vicky represented Luxembourg in the 1972 contest and won it with this beautiful ballad.
Already quite famous in the 60's, her win cemented her status as one of the biggest stars to come out of the contest.
Apres Toi was released all over the world and went on to sell over six million singles. In the UK it was released as "Come What May" and reached number 2 in the charts.

Ms Leandros continued releasing albums and singles during the 80's, 90's and 2000's and charted in countries as diverse as Greece, China, Canada and Japan. She has worked with the likes of Deep Purple, Demis Roussos, David Soul and Tony Christie to name just a few and continues to work in the music industry.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

The top spot in my countdown looms ever closer. Have any of your favourites featured in my chart. Maybe it's my next choice?

Number 4 - Hallelujah by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey (Israel)

This song won the 1979 contest but only just. Spain were in the lead and looked set for victory until they awarded 10 points to Israel.

Gali was a solo performer and joined Milk and Honey for Eurovision, leaving the band soon after.

The performance on the night was perfect and whilst the audience wasn't on the scale of recent Eurovisions, they received an astounding round of applause and were obviously one of the favourites.

The song itself takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of happy times with my family.

It's one of those songs that builds up as it goes along which I absolutely love.

After winning Eurovision, it did very well in the European charts, reaching number 5 in the UK.

Milk and Honey tried representing Israel in the contest two more times but failed to reach the final on both occasions.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special: Half way there!

That's right folks. We're at the half way stage with my Eurovision countdown. I hope you have liked my choices so far.
Ready for the next one?

Number 5 - This is My Life by Euroband (Iceland)

The duo are the very handsome Fridrik Omar Hjorleifsson and Regina Osk and they represented Iceland in the 2008 contest.
After giving one of the best performances of the night, they only managed to finish in 14th place. A top 5 placing was much deserved and one can only imagine how gutted they must have felt, especially as there were some absolutely appalling songs that scored better than Euroband. Proof, yet again, that tastes in music differ from Country to Country. Either that or there are lots of tone deaf viewers out there.

Never let it be said that Iceland cannot produce a good dance track. This one really is a beauty and I can just imagine myself and many other guys dancing our socks off to it in Queens Court. It could even warrant a dance around a pole too.

The song itself did not chart in the UK but  did reach number 2 in their home
country.
With the right amount of promotion, I honestly believe this song could have been a hit in the UK and Ireland and who knows, maybe even the USA?

Those of you who know your Eurovision may recognise the voice before the start of the above video. That's right, it is the legend that is Sir Terry Wogan who sadly hosts the show no more. The political scoring became too much and he wasn't enjoying hosting the show because of it. A sad loss for us Brits but he was replaced with a good choice in Graham Norton.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Welcome back to my Eurovision top 10 countdown and the next entry is a controversial choice due to the fact that it is mostly instrumental.

Number 6 - Love Symphony by Quartissimo featuring Martina Majerle (Slovenia)

Quartissimo are a string quartet who between them play the violin, viola and cello and play them rather well too. Martina, who originates from Croatia, joined the quartet for this Eurovision entry because rules state an entry must contain lyrics. Slovenia's entry was originally instrumental.

I absolutely adored this entry for the 2009 contest but, unfortunately for Slovenia, not many others did. It failed to reach the final having only scored 14 points in the semis.

Was the lack of support because we don't actually hear a word from Martina until 1 minute 14 seconds into the song? There is more instrumental than singing throughout the duration of the number and maybe viewers just did not perceive it as a song.
Whatever the reason for it's failure to make it to the next stage, I honestly believe it deserved to progress.

Unfortunately for Quartissimo, their track failed to make an impression on the pop or classical charts but thanks to the official Eurovision website, it is one of the many tracks on my ipod.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell and if you like what you have read, please feel free to leave me a message or ,better still, pass the link onto your friends and family.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Welcome to my Eurovision countdown and I must say it is proving to be quite a task.
So many fantastic songs throughout the years and picking just ten is exhausting, not that I'm complaining. It's been lovely looking back through the archives of the contest.

Who is the next entry in my top 10? Read on and all will be revealed.

Number 8 Bobbysocks La Det Swinge aka Let it Swing (Norway)

Bobbysocks were Hanne Krogh and Elisabeth Andreassean and together they won the 1985 contest for Norway with this quirky little swing number.
They give a winning performance full of sparkle and energy and the orchestra, well what can you say except it is a swing song and when those instruments start a playing, boy do you want to swing.

Bobbysocks reached number 44 in the UK charts with their Eurovision winner and continued to work together until 1988. Up until their split, they released 3 albums and 10 singles. In 2010, a compilation album was released to celebrate 25 years since they won Eurovision and whilst not as successful as their previous releases, it did introduce them to a whole new audience.

Today, Eurovision's look has totally changed from the look of 1985 with everything produced on a much grander scale now. If Bobbysocks were to sing in the contest today, I doubt it would be a winner but I guarantee the audience would be up on their feet swinging to their hearts content.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Here we are folks. The next entry in my Eurovision countdown.

No 9 It's All About You by Juliana Pasha (Albania)

Albanian singer Juliana Pasha represented her country for Eurovision 2010 and came a very disappointing 16th place.

2 songs stood out for me in 2010's contest. This one and the entry from Iceland which finished 19th. Both songs were well staged, with the singers giving it their all and both received rapturous applause.

Why their scores were so disastrous is a mystery to me and just shows how different a countries taste in music can be.

Maybe it's my taste that is strange as the UK only gave Albania 1 point. Could it have been Juliana's uncanny resemblance to Jane Beale from Eastenders that cost her points with the UK's voters?

Personally, I felt that she should have finished top 3 and it is a travesty that she did not.

  

So why has this song ended up in my top 10? Because it's a fantastic dance song full of energy and great vocals with good backing vocals too, that's why. Plenty of songs were sung on the night but it was this that stole the show for me.  

Germany won the contest with a rather dull song called Satellite and that is all I have to say about that one.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

 

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Well here it is folks. The start of my Eurovision Countdown and where better to start than number 10.
If any of you agree with my choices or have any favourites of your own, just leave me a message.

Let the Eurovision frivolities commence.

No 10 One Step Further by Bardo (UK)

The Uk's entry for 1982's Eurovision was this jolly little song.
Bardo were actually tipped to win the contest but, as you will see watching the video, their performance on the night was less than average.
Luckily for me, I had heard the song already and absolutely loved it.
It was never going to win an NME award for best song but who cares. It served it's purpose by being a fun song with a catchy tune and, at the time, was good to dance to. What can I say, I'm gay and sometimes my musical tastes can be quite strange.

Sally Ann Triplett and Stephen Fischer were Bardo and formed just for Eurovision with plans to further their new found pop career after the contest.
Things did not get off to a good start with the act finishing 7th on the night. They fared better with the release of the song when it reached number 2 in the charts.
Unfortunately none of their other releases charted and they joined that elite group known as One Hit Wonders and separated.
They reformed under a new name and also became a duo romantically with Sally giving birth to their son in 1990 (thanks to Wikipedia for that little snippet of information).
A few years later, the relationship ended and they went their separate ways.

I honestly believe that if their performance had been better on that forsaken night, they would have indeed won the contest and who knows how the the future of Bardo could have turned out?

I am still the proud owner of One Step Further on 7" vinyl though I am not the owner of a record player. Thanks to YouTube, I recently listened to it again and was reminded of just how much I loved it and the temptation to download it from Amazon is proving very hard to resist.

Until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Guilty Pleasure - Eurovision Special

Yes folks, you read that correctly. The Eurovision Song Contest is indeed one of my guilty pleasures.

My earliest memory of watching Eurovision is in 1976 with my family. I was a mere 9 years old and Brotherhood of Man won the contest for the UK with Save all Your Kisses for Me. Who could ever forget that dance and don't any of  you dare deny that you didn't have a go at those moves like I did.

Eurovision was a big part of our life and we never missed it. We'd had our electricity cut off one year and were so desperate not to miss it that we made do with the radio.
There we were with a few candles and Eurovision blurting out of a small speaker. It was bliss and one of the memories I treasure most.

Katie Boyle and Terry Wogan were of course the King and Queen of Eurovision but I think Graham Norton is proving to be a most excellent host. As with his predecessors, you can tell he absolutely loves everything about it.

These days it has become a little too political with countries awarding points to their neighbours just to keep them happy, for fear of possible invasions or a ban from fishing in the other countries waters.
Never the less, I still love it and and even more so now that each year it is on, I visit my good friend Andy to watch it with him. We even go as far as awarding our own points and trying to predict who will win. I love it but Andy adores it. I'm not kidding, the man is like the encyclopedia Eurovision.

So why do I love it so? I could say it's because I'm gay and because it is as camp as Christmas. I could even say it's because sometimes the songs are so bad and the artists so ridiculous you just have to laugh out loud. There could be the possibility my addiction to Eurovision is all down to the hosts and their hilarious comments.
It is, however, none of the previous. The reason I love it so is quite simply because the contest unites countries through the art of music. Millions of people watch it every year and with each passing year, it becomes bigger and better and more importantly it becomes even more loved.
Yes there are those who ridicule it but they still watch it.
I think the Eurovision Song Contest will be with us for many more years and I would love it see it evolve into the World Song Contest. Not sure if the BBC could spare a whole day to show all the acts taking part but it sure would be fun to watch.

Leading up to this years contest, I will be compiling my top ten Eurovision acts. The list will contain acts that won and some that didn't and thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I will do my utmost to include a video (hopefully from the contest) for each one.

I hope you find it an interesting and enjoyable edition to my blog and please feel free to let me know your favourite Eurovision acts or songs.

Until next week when we start with number 10 in our countdown, I bid thee farewell.