United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984

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Eurovision Song Contest 1984
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process A Song for Europe 1984
Selection date(s)4 April 1984
Selected entrant Belle and the Devotions
Selected song"Love Games"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result7th, 63 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄198319841985►

The United Kingdom was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 by Belle and the Devotions with the song "Love Games". It was chosen as the British entry through the A Song for Europe national selection process and placed seventh at Eurovision, receiving 63 points.

Contents

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1984

A Song for Europe was used once again to select the British entry, as it had since the United Kingdom's debut at the Contest in 1957.

The final was held on 4 April 1984 at the Studio 1 of Television Centre, London and was hosted once again by Terry Wogan. The BBC Concert Orchestra under the direction of John Coleman as conductor accompanied all the songs, but all the music was pre-recorded. Of the entrants, songwriter Paul Curtis had no less than four of the eight entries (going on to take three of the top four places). The votes of eight regional juries based in Edinburgh, Norwich, Belfast, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham decided the winner. Each jury region awarded 15 points to their favourite song, 12 points to the second, 10 points to the third and then 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5 points in order of preference for the songs from 4th to 8th. [1] In an plan to modernise the show, computer graphics where used for the first time during the voting.

Singers Sinitta and Hazell Dean would later go on to become successful chart acts - both under the producership of Stock Aitken Waterman. [2] The latter scoring her first top 10 hit just a few weeks after the contest. [3]

A Song for Europe 1984 4 April 1984 [4]
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)PointsPlace
1Caprice"Magical Music"Mike Finesilver606
2Nina Shaw"Look at Me Now"Jeremy Paul783
3Bryan Evans"This Love Is Deep"Steve Glen, Mike Burns, Nicky Chinn 538
4 Belle and the Devotions "Love Games" Paul Curtis, Graham Sacher1121
5First Division"Where the Action Is" Paul Curtis, Graham Sacher792
6Miriam Anne Lesley"Let It Shine" Paul Curtis 625
7 Sinitta "Imagination" Paul Curtis, Tony Hiller 774
8 Hazell Dean "Stay in My Life" Hazell Dean, Mike Bradley557
Detailed Jury Votes [4]
DrawSong
Edinburgh
Norwich
Belfast
London
Cardiff
Manchester
Bristol
Birmingham
Total score
1"Magical Music"95785109760
2"Look at Me Now"8108915971278
3"This Love Is Deep"7696775653
4"Love Games"1515151510121515112
5"Where the Action Is"12861281581079
6"Let It Shine"107125956862
7"Imagination"612101012612977
8"Stay in My Life"59576810555
Jury Spokespersons [4]
JurySpokesperson
Edinburgh Ken Bruce
Norwich Judi Lines
Belfast Diane Harron
London Colin Berry
Cardiff Iwan Thomas
Manchester Alan Yardley
Bristol Vivien Creegor
Birmingham Paul Coia

UK Discography

  • Nina Shaw - Look At Me Now: Red Bus RBUS90.
  • Bryan Evans - This Love Is Deep: Charisma CB413.
  • Belle & The Devotions - Love Games: CBS A4332 (7" Single)/TA4332 (12" Single).
  • First Division - Where The Action Is: Panther PAN3.
  • Miriam Anne Lesley - Let It Shine: RCA RCA403.
  • Sinitta - Imagination: Magnet MAG258.
  • Hazell Dean - Stay In My Life: Proto ENA116.

At Eurovision

Belle & the Devotions were booed at the Contest partly as reaction after English football fans had run riot in Luxembourg a few months earlier, causing extensive damage to the city and by the Dutch delegation in protest that the three backing singers for the group who were in fact performing the song were never seen by the TV viewers (the BBC maintained that this was because one was pregnant) whereas the two members of the Devotions, Laura James and Linda Sofeld, were miming their vocals. Despite the reception, the group finished 7th with 63 points and reaching no.11 in the UK singles chart, the highest chart placing of any UK entry between 1983 and 1994. [5] Sweden ended up winning the competition with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley".

Terry Wogan once again provided the television commentary for BBC 1, for the second consecutive year Radio 2 opted not to broadcast the contest, however the contest was broadcast on British Forces Radio with commentary provided by Richard Nankivell. Colin Berry once again served as spokesperson for the UK jury.

Voting

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest</span> BBC TV show

Eurovision: You Decide is the most recent name of a BBC television programme that was broadcast annually to select the United Kingdom's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The show had previously gone under several other names, including Festival of British Popular Songs (1957), Eurovision Song Contest British Final (1959–1960), The Great British Song Contest (1996–1999), Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up (2004–2007), Eurovision: Your Decision (2008), and Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (2009–2010), but was known, for most of its history, as A Song for Europe.

Belle and the Devotions were a British pop group, ostensibly a group named after the singer Kit Rolfe. Under this name, she released the singles "Where Did Love Go Wrong?" and "Got to Let You Know" in 1983.

Sweden held a national preselction named Melodifestivalen 1984 to choose the entry for the Eurovision Song Contest the same year. The winner was the three brothers Herrey, consisting of Richard, Louis and Per. Their song was called "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley", and was written by Britt Lindeborg and Torgny Söderberg.

The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Even If" written by Andy Abraham, Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins. The song was performed by Andy Abraham. The British entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia was selected via the national final Eurovision: Your Decision, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. Six acts competed in the national final and the winner was selected through three rounds of voting.

Paul Michael Curtis is an English singer, songwriter, record producer from London, who holds the record for the highest number of songs to make the finals of the A Song for Europe contest, the BBC's annual competition to choose the UK's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, competing with 22 separate songs from 1975 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest</span>

The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times. It first took part in the second contest in 1957 and has entered every year since 1959. Along with Sweden and the Netherlands, the UK is one of only three countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades. It is one of the "Big Five" countries, along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, that are automatically prequalified for the final each year as they are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The British national broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event and has, on multiple occasions, organised different national selection processes to choose the British entry. The United Kingdom has won the Eurovision Song Contest five times, and has finished as runner-up on a record sixteen occasions. The UK has hosted the contest a record nine times, four times in London and once each in Edinburgh (1972), Brighton (1974), Harrogate (1982), Birmingham (1998), and Liverpool (2023).

"Love Games", written and composed by Paul Curtis and Graham Sacher, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed by the trio Belle and the Devotions, which was headed by Kit Rolfe.

References

  1. Songs4europe - 1984 Song for Europe
  2. Official Charts Company - Sinitta(Link redirected to OCC website)
  3. Official Charts Company - Hazell Dean(Link redirected to OCC website)
  4. 1 2 3 Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 181–198. ISBN   978-1-84583-118-9.
  5. "Final of Luxembourg 1984". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Results of the Final of Luxembourg 1984". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.