United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985

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The 1985 edition of A Song for Europe was held at the BBC Television Centre on April 9th, hosted by a suited Terry Wogan. The theme music (as it has been in previous years) was Te Deum. There was an orchestra used to perform the songs, again this was off screen, and under the baton of conductor John Coleman.

[edit] Opening act

The show opened with a group of dancers, dancing to old Eurovision songs: Making your mind up, Waterloo, Puppet on a string, Save your kisses for me, Boom bang-a-bang and Congratulations. The artistes were introduced on stage with captions on screen, with another version of Making your mind up. Terry Wogan was then entered on stage with a fanfare, as used in previous contests.

[edit] The Songs

The songs were first previewed in the previous week to the contest on the Wogan show.

333 songs were originally submitted to the Music Publisher's Association, with 8 songs chosen. Song writers could only submit a maximum of four songs to the MPA, but the identity of the writers was not disclosed to the MPA judges. Another rule stated that no groups (more than 2 performers) were allowed, possibly due to the poor achievement of the previous trio groups that represented the UK. The songs were selected by around 90 people, DJs, producers and publishers.

Song Number 1 was written by Vikki Watson (from Hampshire), and James Kalleth(American born, raised in Liverpool and now living in London) Vikki sang the song "Love is" with two on stage backing singers, the legendary Sunny and Sue, who had previously provided backing for Lulu in 1969 and Joy Fleming in 1975. Vikki would go on to win the heat, and would wear the same costume at the Eurovision Song Contest. There were minor differences in the arrangement of the song when compared to the live Eurovision version.

Song Number 2 was written by Irishman Jonathan Gregg, and sung by fellow Irishman Peter Beckett. Titled "I'm crying" it would go on to be joint 7th after the voting. The song was a gentle slow ballad, performed solo on stage. He would later take part in the 1986 contest as part of the group Jump.

Song Number 3, The Clock on the wall", was written by Peter Vale and Mick Leeson, performed by the 40 year old Alvin Stardust. This was representative of Stardust's style, an upbeat 50's style song. A backing group of guitarists and a drummer was also on stage. He came 3rd.

Song Number 4 was written by James Oliver, a Scotsman from Glasgow. He also performed the song "What we say with our eyes." Backing singers could be heard, but were off stage. This song was a slow ballad, all about breaking up. He would later go on to appear in the 1988 and 1989 contests. He came 6th.

Song Number 5 was written by Clive Scott (Coventry) and Des Dyer (Rugby). The pair of them had previously been in a group called Jigsaw. Des performed the song on stage alone, although backing singers could be heard. The arrangement of the song was much different from the studio version, it being faster, in a different key and the instrumentation being very different. Des' voice screeched on one of the notes and he muttered an expletive! The song finished in 4th place.

Song number 6 was written by Paul Curtis and Graham Sacher and performed by 19 year old Annabel, who performed half the song sat on the floor. The song was called "Let me love you one more time" another slow love song and finished in 5th place.

Song number 7 was also written by Curtis and Sacher, performed by Kerri Wells, performing "Dancing in the night" alone on stage with off screen backing singers. It finised 2nd. It was an up tempo number.

Song number 8 was written by Mike Redway, who would team up with 29 year old Fiona Kennedy, famous to Britain's kids as a presenter of BBC1's "Record Breakers", to sing "So do I", another ballad.

The UK entered Vikki and "Love is" in the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest and it came in fourth place, gaining 100 points overall.

Norway's Bobbysocks won with the fifties-influenced "Let it Swing".