Bucks Fizz: Cheryl Baker, Bobby G, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston
Bucks Fizz is an English pop
group, formed in 1981 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest that
year. They won with "Making Your Mind Up" and went on
to have a successful pop career.
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Contents
- 1 Career
- 2 Band
name dispute
- 3 References
in popular culture
- 4 Band
members chronology
- 5 Discography
- 6 External
links
- 7 References
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Career
The initial group members were Jay Aston, Cheryl
Baker, Bobby
G (or Gee, actually Gubby) and Mike
Nolan, the classic 'two male — two female' Eurovision line-up
established by ABBA.
Already experienced singers they were gathered together by
producer/writing combo Nicola Martin and Andy
Hill. The group were quick to build on their Eurovision success,
"Making Your Mind Up" was their first Number One in March 1981 and they
followed up with two Top Twenty singles and a further Number One in
November 1981 with "The Land Of Make Believe"
and also an eponymously-titled album. In 1982 the group had their final
Number One in March with "My Camera Never Lies" and their output of
singles slowed as they concentrated on touring. Their last Top 10 hit
came in 1986, "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)", with a few more minor hits
up until 1988.
In December 1984 the group's tour bus crashed and Nolan was
badly injured. In 1985 Aston left and was replaced by Shelley
Preston. She left in 1989 and the group decided to continue
as a trio. Baker, with some successful television work, left in 1993
and the 'female space' was filled by Heidi Manton and Amanda Szwarc.
Nolan left in 1996 and David Van Day, ex-Dollar, succeeded
him for a while before being replaced by Graham Crisp and then Wayne
Chinnery. Gee married Heidi Manton in 1999. Amanda Szwarc was replaced
by Louise Hart and she by Nikki Winters.
In 2004 Bucks Fizz reunited with a line up of Cheryl, Mike and
Shelly as part of the Here and Now Tour 2004. Bobby
took part but, due to commitments with his Official Bucks Fizz, he
could not make all of the dates played. They also released a double
collection The Ultimate Anthology in 2005. The
album was commissioned and catalogued with the band's title in the
wording. On 10
July 2006 a
new double album The Lost Masters was released
featuring many rare and unreleased recordings. This album was
originally titled "Comforts Place".
In November 2006 the bands original members including Jay
Aston finally reconciled their differences and Mike Nolan, Cheryl
Baker, Jay Aston, Bobby Gee and Shelley Preston were invited to appear
in the video for the 2007 Comic Relief single, a version of The
Proclaimers' '500 Miles'. Hope was that the group would
perform as a fivesome under the banner of 'BUCK5FIZZ'.
It was also announced that the original line-up of members
might possibly be performing together as a support act for Britain's Making Your Mind Up
Eurovision selection show on Saturday 17th March, held at The
Maidstone Studios in Kent.
However, on the day the group did not perform, although three members
of the group were in the audience, and Fearne
Cotton conducted a short interview with Cheryl Baker.
Paul Fordham became the 15th member of a much changed line-up
for the band in 2007 and later that year, Bucks Fizz scored their first
UK Top 40 Album for 24 years with The Very Best of Bucks
Fizz which entered the chart at Number 40.
Band name 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 including a Rick Astley cover and several
compilations which featured new vocal versions of old hits.
Particularly noted was a dance remix of Making Your Mind Up released in
1998.
Sometime thereafter, 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
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 2002 when David Van Day agreed to
call his version of the band "David Van Day's Bucks Fizz Show".
References in popular culture
- Bucks Fizz was often mentioned and joked about in the long
running BBC TV
series, As Time Goes By.
- Making Your Mind Up
is a television event in which viewers vote for which song should be United
Kingdom's next Eurovision entry.
- In the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the Scooch member
David Ducasse was holding a champagne bottle named "Bucks
Fizz".
Band members chronology
There have been 15 members of the group since its formation in
1981.
Bucks Fizz operated as a trio between 1989 and 1993 and an alternate
version (not credited here) operated between 1999 and 2002.
- Jay
Aston 1981 - 1985
- Cheryl Baker 1981 - 1993
- Bobby
G 1981 -
- Mike Nolan 1981 - 1996
- Shelley Preston 1985 - 1989
- Heidi Manton 1993 -
- Amanda Szwarc 1993 - 1996
- David Van Day 1996 - 1997
- Karen Logan 1996
- Graham Crisp 1997 - 2002
- Wayne Chinnery 2003 - 2007
- Louise Hart 1996 - 2002
- Nikki Winters 2003
- Tammy Choat 2003 -
- Paul Fordham
2007 -
Discography
Singles
- "Making Your Mind Up" (1981) (#1
UK) (#5 Germany) (#6 Australia)
- "Piece of the Action" (1981) (#12 UK) (#35 Germany) (#26
Australia)
- "One of Those Nights" (1981) (#20 UK)
- "The Land Of Make Believe"
(1981) (#1 UK) (#3 Germany) (#7 A) (#14 Australia)
- "My Camera Never Lies" (1982) (#1 UK) (#31 Germany) (#63
Australia)
- "Now Those Days Are Gone" (1982) (#8 UK)
- "Are You Ready" (1982) — only in West Germany
- "Easy Love" (1982 — Not UK)
- "If You Can't Stand The Heat" (1982) (#10 UK) (#75 Germany)
- "Run for Your Life" (1983) (#14 UK)
- "When We Were Young" (1983) (#10 UK) (#52 Germany) (#14 NL)
(#8 Lux) (#20 A)
- "London Town" (1983) (#34 UK) (#64 Germany)
- "Rules of the Game" (1983) (#57 UK)
- "Talking In Your Sleep" (1984) (#15 UK) (#14 Lux)
- "Golden Days" (1984) (#42 UK)
- "I Hear Talk" (1984) (#34 UK) (#25 Lux)
- "You And Your Heart So Blue" (1985) (#43 UK) (#40 Lux)
- "Magical" (1985) (#57 UK)
- "New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)" (1986) (#8 UK) (#32 NL) (#5
Lux)
- "Love The One You're With" (1986) (#47 UK)
- "Keep Each Other Warm" (1986)
(#45 UK)
- "Heart of Stone"
(1988) (#50 UK)
- "You Love, Love" (1989)
- "The Land of Make Believe" (1991)
Albums
- Bucks Fizz
(1981) UK #14
- Are You Ready
(1982) UK #10
- Hand Cut (1983) UK
#17
- Greatest Hits
(1983) UK #25
- I Hear Talk
(1984) UK #66
- Writing on the Wall
(1986) UK #89
- The Story So Far
(1988)
- Live At Fairfield Halls
(1989)
- The Best of Bucks Fizz
(1994)
- The Ultimate Anthology
(2005)
- Legends (2005)
- The Lost Masters
(2006)
- The Very Best of Bucks
Fizz (2007) UK #40
External links
References
Preceded by
Johnny Logan |
Winner of the Eurovision
Song Contest
1981 |
Succeeded by
Nicole |
Preceded by
Prima Donna |
UK in the
Eurovision Song Contest
1981 |
Succeeded by
Bardo |
|
Eurovision winners |
| 1950s |
Lys
Assia • Corry Brokken • André
Claveau • Teddy Scholten |
| 1960s |
Jacqueline
Boyer • Jean-Claude Pascal • Isabelle
Aubret • Grethe and Jørgen
Ingmann • Gigliola Cinquetti • France
Gall • Udo Jürgens • Sandie
Shaw • Massiel •
Frida
Boccara • Lenny Kuhr • Lulu •
Salomé |
| 1970s |
Dana • Séverine •
Vicky Leandros • Anne-Marie
David • ABBA •
Teach-In •
Brotherhood of Man • Marie
Myriam • Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta •
Gali
Atari & Milk and Honey |
| 1980s |
Johnny
Logan • Bucks Fizz •
Nicole • Corinne
Hermès • Herreys •
Bobbysocks •
Sandra
Kim • Johnny Logan • Celine
Dion • Riva |
| 1990s |
Toto
Cutugno • Carola • Linda
Martin • Niamh Kavanagh • Paul
Harrington & Charlie McGettigan • Secret
Garden • Eimear Quinn • Katrina and the Waves •
Dana International • Charlotte
Nilsson |
| 2000s |
Olsen
Brothers • Tanel Padar, Dave
Benton & 2XL • Marie
N • Sertab Erener • Ruslana •
Elena Paparizou • Lordi • Marija
Šerifović |