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Eurovision winners suggest
United Kingdom: What can bring the UK back to the top?
Brotherhood of man, Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz, Sandie Shaw, Katrina Leskanich, Nickie French and Carrie Grant spoke to LGF and we will be presenting you with their interviews in three parts.
Brotherhood of Man won the contest in 1976 with Save your kisses for me, the biggest selling Eurovision winner according to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Lee Sheridan of the group told outnorthwest: "The most outstanding memory is the joy of winning something for your country which is still with us today. It's great to win something but to win for your country brings a pride that lasts forever."
Seven years after their victory the band were shortlisted to participate in the UK preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest, A Song for Europe 1983, once more but decided to be remembered for winning the Eurovision Song Contest as opposed to possibly losing a UK qualifying heat says Sandra Stevens.
What can the UK do to win the competition again? Lee Sheriden, member of the band and co writer of Save your kisses for me says: "The answer might seem simple but it is true: we need an outstanding song sung by an outstanding singer or band. Some of our recent entries have been very good but we need to just blow all opposition away."
Currently Brotherhood of man, in the Eurovision winning line-up, are touring with their own theater show "The 70s Story" and in concert with Bucks Fizz throughout this year.Dates and full details of appearances can be found on the groups website here.
Cheryl Baker is a member of the 1981 winning band, Bucks Fizz. Together with Mike Nolan, Bobby G and Jay Aston they won the Contest with legendary Making your mind up, starting a tradition followed by hundreds of similar gimmicks on Eurovision stage with their skirt-ripping dance routine.
"My outstanding lasting memory of taking part in Eurovision was standing on a table surrounded by a sea of photographers - that was when I realised that what we had done was big! " remembers Cheryl. And she goes on to tell Outnorthwest what she thinks has to be done with the contest nowadays: "I believe the competition needs to be split into 3 preliminaries: Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe - with the top five winners of each of the preliminaries going forward to the final."
Cheryl will be taking part in Seussical - the musical, this summer and "I will be ripping my skirt off with Shelley and Mike at various gigs, working as The Original Bucks Fizz (for legal reasons!)" she says. More information on Cheryl Baker's activities in the months to follow can be found here.
In the next article we will be presenting you with the Katrina Leskanich and Sandie Shaw interviews so stay tuned!
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GREECE 4 LIFE !!!!!!KALOMIRA IS IN TOP 5 SURE
AND THE WINNER IS SWEEDEN OR SERBIA
Dear mister Tam,
I see you are from Turkey, but you think that the 4 big ones, being directly in the final, is not koosher. But the fact that Turkey is undeserved in the final is koosher, is it ? Thanks to all your imigrates all over Europe, that vote for their own crappy entries, that's ok, is it ? You guys are so pathetic. I really do feel sorry for you guys, be proud of it. EBU made 1 big mistake, and that allowing that 100 % televoting.... It's so unfair. We pay and you party, as always the case...
oh how i can not stand the big4 debate anymore. Besides the monetary factor which is strong enough in itsself, cause hardly every participating could afford to host the event. And if i do remember correctly you should be able to host in order to participate, there are other reasons. Germany, France, UK and Spain combine a total of aprx. 220 Million possible viewers.In a few years I am sure we do have Russia in and a big 5. Imagine a final with only Monaco, San Marino, Andorra etc... it's simply not imaginable in respect of viewing figures, CD sales, television rights and total costs. I don't say it is purely fair but then again how fair can you be, giving nations like San Marino and Monace the same power with points as 60 Millions French. Is that really fair ???? I mean wouldn't it be more fair to give France and the UK more points to give away than smaller countries - i already can hear the storm rising up. But think about it, hundret of thousand of votes from Germany or the Uk are as much worthy as 1000 from San Marino. You can argue about the big4 issue endlessly, but it will not change for some good reasons.
@ Tam Joe
but you have no problem with the Big 4 paying in more money than the others?
U.K, France, Spain and Germany will not get points from all country so long as they are direct in Final... This isn't kosher!!!
- andy mee
Good idea, does anybody have his number!!! lol 
Shouldnt Somebody contact Sevant Stockselius to warn him and advise new ways to sort this problem out that Eurovision faces?
garry chelsea!
here here!
- garry chelsea!
You're right 
its like i said, why does the u.k get more stick about automatic entry to the final? france germany and spain NEVER get the reaction we do, yet noone who criticises can explain their reason for only slagging off the uk place in the final
@ thomas ferguson
I 100% agree with you!
The UK will never win again, unless there is a fair degree of fairness introduced. I have always believed that a jury should be present, but can only hear the songs, rather than see the performances. After all, it is a SONG contest.
There is a false image of us Brits, by Europeans. They believe we love all that is American - which isnt true. The sad thing for me is that televoting is killing Eurovision, because once the doors were opened to Eastern Europeans, it was quite clear who THEY would vote for, whether the song was good or bad. So it is partly neighbourly voting AND migration at blame here.
@ Melina
The Brits DON'T expect to win every time we enter - but we do like fairness and that is desperately lacking within some European countries. Last year, someone on another website, chose their top 10 songs for Eurovision, even though the UK was still to select their entry !
As a fan of Eurovision, I cant see the UK reaching the heights they once scaled and I fear that within the next 3 years, we will drop out.
I can still see one of the Big 4 pulling out for next year, if this disparity within the voting continues.
@ Melina:
I read a book on the ESC a while ago, written by a Brit, and it seems that for the first four decades they always considered themselves to bring the best pop music, and that most other pop songs were really little more than imitations (and to be honest, I think part of that is true)... The author thought the kinda change in mentality came with Jemini's infamous nul points (which i think they absolutely deserved) - cos lets face it, they were still winning and reaching top positions in the late nineties and early 2000s...
but its an interesting point.
@ Liberato Antonio
Do you know what the 'Caps Lock' key is for?
Leaving 'Caps Lock' on means your are typing in caps and caps is known as SHOUTING.
THE BBC NEED TO TAKE THE CONTEST MORE SERIOUSLY OR NOT BOTHER , BUT I THINK THAT THE BRITISH POP INDUSTRY ARE NOT INTRESTED, SO THE SOLUTION IS TO LOOK ABROAD AS OTHER COUNTRIES DO.
melina thats not true, we simply dont like the neighbourly voting that goes on, if you look at the voting patterns you will see that the uk are very fair when they give points, we actually appreciate a good song and we vote for the song and not the country. last years semis proved how unfair it is when no western country qualified, the problem is that people moan because we get automatic entry to the final, but why do they only attack the u.k for that, they dont seem to be as nasty about spain france and germany, yet they qualify like us, if someone can explain that it would be nice to know why their criticsim is so selective
I don't know, but somehow it seems to me that UK takes it for granted that it *should* be at the top at ESC, and when that's not the case, something "must" be awfully wrong... I don't know where this attitude comes from? Because UK has won several times? Well, yes, but times change...
Iaamni was brill at schlagerpride - that was a really original and modern song. Dont know why she didn't do so well afterwards. Bring her back.
@Milan.S I totally agree, bring Imaani back! I saw a clip of her on You tube singing at schalgerfest (?) in Stockholm, she was EXCELLENT check it out!
A song and performance like Katrina's or Imaani's would help in putting UK back onto the ESC stage, that's all.
can someone tell sean to take a chill pill get out and live a little instead of wallowing in the bitterness of the past, its time to move on, hatred is such a bad trait! if
@ austin i thought it was bad when they booed him. but i really dont think its because he is black, most people have no problem with that, we have had a black performer representing us before so that is not the reason, i just think some of the crowd were wan**ers and should have beeen a bit more careful when drinking, they obviously cant handle the booze, they were probably too pissed to realise that they were making fools of themselves
I dont think the language issue plays such a role - remember until 1977 many countries sang in English, look at the Uk's history for this period and it was, um.... rather good! No, the Uks choice of songs has not been good recently, they seem to have lost the plot a bit, I agree with whoever wrote that Cyndi would have done well, so the songs are out there, it just needs the public to recognise them.
Btw. Look at SFE in the mid 1990s it was so strong, what went wrong? ( or is it just that Mr King is now behind bars?)
LEE: "an outstanding song by an outstanding singer"
CHERYL: "the competition need to be split into three preliminaries"
like.. WTF??? They dont have any idea of what they're saying
The only way to put the UK back on the top is if they do a unforgettable performance on the Eurovision stage, a good artist that stands out of the other 24 is competing against. Thats it!
Not somebody famous: Something outstanding and original and unique like Lordi or yeah the Bucks Fizz
The problem with the UK is that is bringing too many simple entries. Emontionless and repetitive songs.
Could someone please tell me why people booed Andy Abrahams off the stage on friday night... not a very nice thing to do especially as he made a big effort to attend the Preview Party.
Personally I was appalled..will the fans do the same on the BIG night and was it becuase he was the first ever black male singer for the UK ?
NoW! ThiS iS a ReaL ToP 10!!!
YoU CaN CLicK ThAt LinK!!!
url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjsSuVH03gk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjsSuVH03gk/url]
So many rediculous comments on here - how much the Beeb pays the EBU, the IRA, Rule Britannia, etc etc. Come on girls, this ain't a school playground!
The UK entries since 2002 have been dire and it should be no surprise that they bombed completely.
Brotherhood of Man are right - you need an outstanding song and performer to win. There's too much competition these days not to take the ESC seriously. The BBC - and the British public - need to up their game!
Cyndi would have been perfect for Helsinki, but the British public voted for a bunch of clowns instead....how mad is that? I still can't figure it out!
Hey folks, less than a month to go - yay!!!!
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