Bucks Fizz

Bucks Fizz are an English pop music group, formed in 1981 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest that year. They won with "Making Your Mind Up", which is still their best-known song. The group was initially made up of four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, whose gimmick was that they were all blond. The group went on to have a successful career around the world, although their biggest success was in the UK where they had three No.1 singles and became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s. Worldwide their record sales exceeded 15 million.

Career

Formation

In late 1980, Nichola Martin and Andy Hill sought to create a new group to enter their song "Making Your Mind Up" in the Eurovision Song Contest. The first member to be recruited was Mike Nolan, who was known to Martin. Together they recorded a demo of the song and entered it for inclusion in A Song for Europe - the preliminary heats for the contest. Realising that a name was needed for the performing artists, Martin quickly decided on Buck's Fizz, as it was her favourite drink. In January, Martin contacted Cheryl Baker to join them, while auditions were underway. At the end of these auditions, Martin had found a male singer, Bobby G and female, Jay Aston. Unsure of which female vocalist to use, she ultimately decided to use both and Martin stepped down from the group in order to team up with Hill for another line-up as they had two songs in the competition. The four members met for the first time on the 11th of January 1981. An associate of Martin's, Jill Shirley agreed to manage the group.

Eurovision
Performance at Eurovision 1981

During rehearsals, a dance routine was devised for the song which went on to become famous for the moment where the girls skirts are ripped off halfway through. The routine itself was choreographed by Chrissie Wickham, a former member of dance troupe, Hot Gossip, although Martin, Baker and Aston have all since laid claim to the skirt-rip idea.

On 11 March, A Song for Europe took place with the unknown Bucks Fizz competing against well known act Liquid Gold, as well as Hill and Martin's own group, Gem. "Making Your Mind Up" became an easy winner and the group recorded the song with Hill as producer. Later in the month it was released as a single and entered the charts at No.24. By the time the contest was staged, the single had risen to No.2.

On 4 April, Bucks Fizz represented United Kingdom in the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Dublin. Although they were favourites to win, the song faced stiff competition and after a vocally unsound rendition, the early votes were poor. Halfway through the voting process, Bucks Fizz took the lead, although they remained close throughout. Ultimately, Bucks Fizz won the contest by a small margin of four points, beating Germany into second place. "Making Your Mind Up" became a major hit around the continent, reaching No.1 in the UK as well as eight other countries. It charted highly in other territories such as Australia, eventually selling four million copies worldwide.

Post Eurovision success

With Shirley remaining as the group's manager, Hill as producer and Martin as co-songwriter, they worked with record company RCA to continue the group's success, determined that they would not become another Eurovision one-hit wonder. A follow-up single was recorded amid promotional tours and the group's image was revamped. In May, the single "Piece of the Action" was released. The song boasted a contemporary pop sound and high production values, in contrast to the rock'n'roll style of "Making Your Mind Up". As Baker has stated: "Our follow-up single was nothing at all like 'Making Your Mind Up', it was a good, strong, contemporary pop song" "Piece of the Action" became an immediate hit and quickly rose to No.12 in the UK charts, making it the most successful follow-up to a Eurovision song ever. It also charted highly across Europe. Buoyed by this success, the group launched into recording their debut album with producer Andy Hill. Released in July, the self-titled album also became a top 20 hit in the UK charts as did their third single, "One of Those Nights". In November 1981, they won the Best Song Award at the Yamaha Song Contest in Tokyo with the song "Another Night".

Continued popularity (1981-1984)

In late 1981, Andy Hill with former King Crimson member Peter Sinfield came up with the fourth Bucks Fizz single. Titled "The Land of Make Believe", the song was produced by Hill and featured a strong melody. Released in November, it hit the charts and by Christmas was in the top five. In January 1982, it overtook The Human League's "Don't You Want Me" to reach No.1. It stayed there for two weeks and remained in the UK charts for 16 weeks - becoming the group's biggest selling single and one of the top selling singles of the decade. It also reached No.1 in the Netherlands and Ireland and became the group's best-selling single in Germany. The song has since been hailed as an "Eighties classic" and is regarded as the group's best song by critics.

Their next single released in March 1982, "My Camera Never Lies" reached number one also. They were the first British act of the 1980s to score 3 number ones within a 12 month period. They toured extensively in 1981 and 1982. Further success followed in May with the group's second studio album Are You Ready which went Gold immediately. Attempting diversity a ballad was released 'Now Those Days are Gone' which reached number eight in the UK charts. Success continued with the release of the singles 'If You Can't Stand the Heat', 'Run for Your Life' and 'When We Were Young'. Bucks Fizz's third studio album Hand Cut was released in 1983 with intricate harmonies, booming choruses and perfect pop. Finally the year was topped off with the release of their Greatest Hits album which went gold and featured new songs 'London Town' and 'Rules of the Game'.

Nolan accident

1984 was to be an eventful year. Bucks Fizz toured the UK again on a seven week sell out tour. The group had yet another hit with their version of The Romantics song 'Talking In Your Sleep'. This was closely followed by the critically acclaimed fourth studio album, I Hear Talk. The title track was also a hit as a single in the UK and a club hit in the USA. This also prompted some extra live sell out shows at the end of the year in which fate was to deal the group a devastating blow. After the Newcastle gig Bucks Fizz were involved in a horrific coach crash which resulted in the serious injury of Mike Nolan, which included head injuries resulting in removal of part of his brain and the partial loss of his eyesight (50%). Nolan proceeded to make a full recovery, although he lost about 50% of his vision in both eyes.

Jay Aston departs, Shelley Preston joins

Jay Aston became the first band member to leave the group which was the first in many transformations in the group's make-up. She departed in June 1985 and was replaced by Shelley Preston following auditions at The Prince of Wales Theatre which were widely reported in the media (Preston was interviewed for a news feature by TV-am whilst queueing for her audition). The group then promoted the current single "You and Your Heart so Blue" on shows such as Wogan with Preston where she was introduced to the British nation as the new member of the group in front of millions of viewers, (neither Aston nor Preston were featured in the promotional video for the song - Preston had not been auditioned when the video was filmed and Aston was still officially a member of the group at the time), Aston performed the single with the group on Tyne Tees Television's Razzamatazz programme a few days prior to her departure. The John Parr/Meatloaf penned single "Magical" was followed by "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)" which became a top ten hit in the Summer of 1986. At this point Bucks Fizz moved record labels to Polydor to release the album Writing on the Wall. As well as 'New Beginning' it also contained the minor hit records 'Love the One You're With' and 'Keep Each Other Warm'.

Their final single, 'Heart of Stone' was released in 1988, which would later became a worldwide hit for Cher.

Quartet becomes a trio

On New Years Eve 1989, after nearly five years, Shelley Preston announced that she was leaving the band and Cheryl, Bobby and Mike continued as a three piece until 1993 when Cheryl left to start a family and concentrate on her TV presenting career. Cheryl was replaced by two newcomers, Heidi Manton (who would later go on to marry Bobby) and Amanda Swarzc. This line-up would continue until 1996 when Mike and Amanda both left and ex-Dollar star David Van Day joined with Karen Logan.

Band dispute

Shortly after David Van Day left Bucks Fizz, he teamed up with Mike Nolan and two new female recruits to form a new version of Bucks Fizz. Confusion was averted when Nolan agreed to call his band "Bucks Fizz starring Mike Nolan"; their website said the new band was an amalgamation of Bucks Fizz and Dollar (using the slogan "Bucks Fizz plus Dollar equals Lots of Cents"). This version of the band released two singles and a compilation album which featured new vocal versions of old hits.

In 2001, Nolan left his version of Bucks Fizz but Van Day continued to tour under the moniker "Bucks Fizz". As Heidi Manton, now owner of the name "Bucks Fizz", still continued to play with Bobby G in the official version of Bucks Fizz, much confusion was caused and Bobby G brought a case in the High Court against Van Day. In 2001, a judge refused to grant a court injuction against Van Day as he had been operating in "Bucks Fizz" for five years at the time.

The feud and legal battle between Bobby G and David Van Day as to who owned the name "Bucks Fizz" was the subject of a BBC television documentary, Trouble at the Top. The case was settled out of court in August 2002 when David Van Day agreed to call his version of the band "David Van Day's Bucks Fizz Show".

Further changes

The line-up has been much changed over the years, particularly since Nolan's departure in 1996. Bucks Fizz have always continued with Bobby always at the helm. His wife, Heidi Manton has stayed alongside him since 1993 - she became the second longest serving member of the group in 2008 despite not being an original member or appearing on any of the bands recordings.

Current band members

The current line-up for Bucks Fizz is

Bobby G
Heidi Manton
Tammy Choat
Paul Fordham

Recent years

In 2005, BBC viewers were invited to vote on the most memorable Eurovision moments ever. Bucks Fizz won with the ripping skirt routine. A double CD collection of all the bands hits on both RCA and Polydor, The Ultimate Anthology, was also released. In 2006 and 2008, two albums were released featuring unreleased Bucks Fizz material. These were The Lost Masters and The Lost Masters 2, issued by Sony BMG and were well received by fans. In early 2009 a two-hour documentary was made entitled The Story of Bucks Fizz. It featured in-depth interviews from the original band members as well as management and other behind-the-scenes personnel. A trailer for this show is currently available on YouTube, but no screen-date on any channel has yet been announced.

The Original Bucks Fizz

Bucks Fizz at Wembley in 2004

In December 2004, G, Nolan, Baker and Preston reformed briefly after 15 years to be part of 'The Here and Now Tour' of the UK. To distinguish this line-up from G's other group, they renamed themselves The Original Bucks Fizz (despite Preston not being an original member). Due to prior commitments with the current lineup of the group, G could not make all of the dates played, but did appear at some shows. Following this, Nolan, Baker and Preston subsequently performed more shows together as a three-piece under the same title and featured in the Congratulations show, the 50th Anniversary of Eurovision in Copenhagen. In September 2008, Preston, Baker, Nolan and Aston reunited for a makeover show Pop Goes the Band for Living TV, which was screened in March 2009.

In April 2009, Preston announced that she was leaving The Original Bucks Fizz due to other commitments. Soon after it was announced that original member Jay Aston would be joining Baker and Nolan in the group for live shows - the first time she has been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985.

Band members chronology

There have been 15 members of the group since its formation in 1981. Bucks Fizz operated as a trio between 1990 and 1993.

Bobby G 1981 - present
Mike Nolan 1981 - 1996
Cheryl Baker 1981 - 1993
Jay Aston 1981 - 1985
Shelley Preston 1985 - 1990
Heidi Manton 1993 - present
Amanda Szwarc 1993 - 1996
David Van Day 1996 - 1997
Karen Logan 1996
Louise Hart 1996 - 2002
Graham Crisp 1997 - 2002
Nikki Winters 2003
Wayne Chinnery 2003 - 2006
Tammy Choat 2003 - present
Paul Fordham 2006 - present

(Also Jenny Phillips - 2006 - covering Heidi's maternity leave)

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucks Fizz