Jemini

Jemini
Also known as Tricity
Origin Liverpool, England
Genres Pop, Dance
Years active 1995–2004
Labels Integral Records (2003)
Past members Chris Cromby
Gemma Abbey

Jemini was a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their performance of "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.[1]

Early career

Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey[2] (born 1982) met in 1995 at Liverpool's Starlight Stage School and toured Liverpool's pubs and clubs with the academy's kids' roadshow. At 16, after leaving college, they formed Tricity, named after the brand of electrical appliances. They changed their name to Jemini ("Gem-and-I") at the age of 19. They spent the next two and a half years touring pubs and clubs in the UK performing Stevie Wonder, Randy Crawford, Motown covers and ABBA medleys, as well as their own compositions. Abbey stated she has loved Eurovision since childhood and count previous Eurovision entrants such as Sonia, Precious and Dana International amongst her favourites.

"Cry Baby"

Jemini and the song "Cry Baby" were selected to take part in Eurovision by a public phone poll in the BBC's A Song for Europe competition. Their performance at Eurovision in Riga in May 2003 was criticised for being off-key,[3][4] and later earned the United Kingdom "nul points".

Failure and break-up

The Eurovision failure prompted both mirth and consternation in the British media. Jemini admitted that their performance was off-key, and claimed they were unable to hear the backing track due to a technical fault. Terry Wogan, long-time commentator on the contest for the BBC, said that the UK was suffering from "post-Iraq backlash."[3] Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History that with a record field of 26 entries, this made the UK's failure the most spectacular in the history of the contest (a record which would remain until the 2015 competition where Germany and Austria both scored 0 points in a field of 27 entrants).[5] Due to their failure at Eurovision, they were immediately dropped by their record label (Integral Records UK), and as a consequence of this, their album was never released. "Cry Baby" entered the UK Singles Chart at #15, but spent only three weeks in the chart.[2] They split up as a duo.

In 2013, the duo reunited for a special interview about their performance in a two-hour-long BBC Three special "How To Win Eurovision". The special aired on 11 May 2013.

In 2014, the duo reunited once again to take part in a Eurovision special of Pointless Celebrities and have subsequently appeared in several television interviews about Eurovision.

Gemma was arrested and sentenced for social security fraud in November 2016.[6] She was claiming as a single mother when she had undergone a wedding ceremony in the Algarve in 2013 and was living with Sean Creighton. She overclaimed tax credits for her daughter born in 2009. She was given a 30-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, and put on supervision order for one year.

Discography

Singles

Year Single Chart positions
UK[2] IE
2003 "Cry Baby" 15 73

References

  1. ↑ Simon Barclay. Eurovision Song Contest - The Complete & Independent Guide 2010. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4457-8415-1. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 282. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. 1 2 "UK act hits Eurovision low". BBC News. 2003-05-25. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
  4. ↑ "Nul points - UK out of tune with Europe". The Guardian. 2003-05-26. Retrieved 2017-04-27.
  5. ↑ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  6. ↑ The Times 22 November 2016
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Jessica Garlick
with "Come Back"		 UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
2003 		Succeeded by
James Fox
with "Hold On to Our Love"

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