United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983

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[edit] A Song for Europe 1983

Terry Wogan was once again at the helm of the UK selection in 1983. The contest was staged at the Television Theatre on Thursday March 24th.

First onstage were Sweet Dreams, two girls and a boy with an uptempo, stereotypical British Eurovison effort called "I'm never giving up". The group had a sport image, all sweat bands and jogging pants but most of the attention was focussed on the dance routine, performed on three kitchen stools.

After this bright start came a low point. Despite having a strong writing pedigree, "I'm going home" was a saccharine ballad given a weak performance by Sam Childs.

Things did not improve with "All Around the World" performed by Stuart Slater and co-written by him with Stephanie de Sykes.This was a slightly miserable offering, sung with the accompaniment of a cellist.

The group Casablanca featured lead vocals from Des Dyer. He had previously appeared in the charts as a member of Jigsaw who scored a memorable hit with the Eurovision-sounding "Sky High". For 1983 he sang "With love", a romantic ballad performed falsetto style. He was aided by two female vocalists dressed as cleaners, complete with mops. Casablanca went on to perform the song on Miss United Kingdom 1983.

Mirror was another one man-two women ensemble and one which came courtesy of the legendary Paul Curtis. "We've got all the time in the world" was a catchy Eurosong of the UK style. Lots of quirky dance moves and a man pretending to play a guitar - what more could you want?

New Seekers' Marty Kristian was responsible for the next song, "Love on your mind". This was performed by a trio of two boys and a girl, the latter being another New Seeker, Cathy-Ann Rae. One of the men was Lance Aston, formerly of 1980 Uk entrants Prima Donna. The song itself was well-performed and catchy although the dance routine was a little distracting.

"When the kissing stops" was to have been performed by 1976 Eurovision winners Brotherhood of Man. However, after deciding that it would be better to be remembered as song contest winners as opposed to UK heat flops, they were replaced by a trio called Rubic. The song was given a cute performance.

Finally came three boys and three girls called Ritzy with "Keeping our love alive". To say this was performed with gusto would be an understatement. The singers raced through the song, accompanied by some of the most manic dancing ever seen in the contest.

[edit] The Voting

Regional juries were based in Cardiff, Belfast, Norwich, Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and London. They awarded 15,12,10,9,8,7,6 and 5 points. Sweet Dreams were clear winners, scoring 109 points. Their closest competition came from Mirror who were second with 91 points. Casablanca were third with 72 points, Audio fourth with 68 points, Rubic fifth with 63 points, a place they shared with Stuart Slater. Ritzy's ditzy dancing scored 60 points and a seventh place whereas Sam Childs came last with 50 points.

[edit] Eurovision Song Contest 1983

After Bardo's "One Step Further" in 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, the UK continued with their run of optimistically-titled-but-not-very-successful entries in 1983 with "I'm Never Giving Up" by Sweet Dreams. It achieved sixth place, scoring 79 points.