Big
haired fifteen year old Emma is the youngest ever UK singer
and sang her hymn to peace in Zagreb with the major
help of big-voiced Miriam Stockley on backing vocals. The
1990 contest was the first since the fall of the Berlin Wall and was
saturated with message songs, and Emma's sixth place was a fair
result.
Samantha
(aka Ronnie Mitchell) took to the Roman Eurovision stage dressed like a hooker to sing a song
about global starvation. Go figure. After a dire result
in 1991 it
was quite clear that her future lay in acting, as has been
proved by her awesome success. The only UK Eurovisioner you can
still see three times a week.
After some bad results
the BBC reverted to choosing one singer for Eurovision and chose musical
superstar Michael Ball. The UK final featured some classy ballads but
yet again the public chose the bouncy one. Mr Ball
claimed that he'd rather have pins stuck in his eyes than do Eurovision
again. Nice.
Scouse
starlet
Sonia Evans topped the UK charts in 1989 with "You'll Never Stop Me
Loving You" and was a Stock Aitken Waterman diva, but still flourished
after their demise and came up with eight very good Song For Europe songs in '93. A
nail-biting second place (yet again)! Still supports the
contest, unlike some.
1994
1995
1996
1997
Lonely Symphony -
Frances Ruffelle
Love City Groove -
Love City Groove
Ooh Aah Just A Little
Bit - Gina G
Love Shine A Light -
Katrina & The Waves
Eurovision fans were
scratching their heads when Les Miserables star Frances was selected as the UK singer. She eventually did OK for the UK but the version
of the song performed in Dublin sounded quite different from the
domestic one. Frances can still be seen around the
West End from time to time.
This was
the first year of Jonathan King's involvement in choosing the UK song.
Love City Groove were put together for the contest and their rap number
was a brave attempt to try something different at the contest. It was a
big hit single but they were unable to repeat the magic with later
releases and split.
Aussie Gina
became an overnight sensation when she won the UK heat and stormed to
the top of the chart with her classic stomper. The juries turned up
their noses but the song became a worldwide bit and Gina backed it up
with four more top forty hits. She returned to the UK final in 2005 but
sadly finished last.
Katrina
Leskanich and her Waves first came to attention in 1985 with "Walking On Sunshine",
and their career was on the wane when Waver Kimberley Rew submitted for
Eurovision a song first written in aid of the Samaritans. Katrina went
on to co-host the special show to mark fifty years of the contest.
