United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989

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[edit] The Songs

A Song for Europe was staged on March 24, 1989, featuring eight songs and hosted, as ever, by Terry Wogan.

For the second year running, the BBC convened a panel of 'experts' to pass comment on each of the songs. The panel comprised Deke Arlon, Gary Davies, Leslie Bricusse and former Eurovision winner Lulu.

First on stage was Frankie Johnson with Back in the groove. This was very much in the style of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman hits of the day, uptempo and commercial. However, the performance was a little breathless at times.

James Oliver made his third appearance in the contest and for the second time suffered from microphone failure. Can't stop loving you was a sad, romantic ballad.

Shame was a mid-tempo offering from Jane Alexander and arguably of a higher standard than usually heard in the UK final. The song would later be covered by Elkie Brooks, her version being even slower than Jane's.

Danny Ellis had a strong songwriting team behind his entry, namely Les Reed and David Reilly. However, the ballad Just for the good times was shunned by the televoting public.

The most identifiable Eurovision song of the night was You stepped out of my dreams, an uptempo, repetitive entry from Julie C.

Perhaps the most powerful performer of the night was Ray Caruana, lead singer of Live Report. Why do I always get it wrong was another romantic ballad with a memorable chorus. There was a great deal of speculation regarding the identity of the female vocalist in the dark glasses. However it wasn't Annie Lennox as some had suggested but Maggie Jay.

Four girls called The Pearls sang what should have been a Motown number called Love come down written by (Pauline Moore and Joe Ortiz of [Heaven on Earth]http://www.heaven-on-earth-cds.com) dressed in black and sporting, naturally, pearls. The song achieved fourth place for the UK entry to the Eurovision. Unfortunately - the house band on the night couldn't quite achieve that classic Motown feel as intended by the writers.

Linda Carroll made a second consecutive appearance in the contest and did so with the plaintive Heaven help my heart but despite a powerful performance, Linda would finish down the field.

[edit] The Voting

The result of the televoting saw a runaway victory for Live Report who polled 111,996 votes. In a distant second place came Julie C with 51,449. Jane Alexander was third with 47,664 followed by The Pearls with 33,279. Linda Carroll was some way behind in fifth place with 17,084 ahead of Frankie Johnson with 10,731. James Oliver scored 9,110 and in eighth place was Danny Ellis with 6,777.

[edit] Eurovision Song Contest 1989

In the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest, the UK entered "Why do I always get it wrong?" by Live Report, but it could match only 1988's 2nd place (this time with just 130 points).