United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979

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Eurovision Song Contest 1979
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process A Song for Europe 1979
Selection date(s)9 March 1979
Selected entrant Black Lace
Selected song"Mary Ann"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Peter Morris
Finals performance
Final result7th, 73 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1978 •1979• 1980►

The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1979. A Song for Europe 1979 was planned to take place at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 8 March.

Contents

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1979

After a day's rehearsals at the Royal Albert Hall a strike by BBC technicians stopped the show about an hour before transmission. Audio recordings of the songs were voted on by 14 regional juries: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London. The jury in Manchester could not be contacted and since the winner had a more than 12 point winning margin, their scores were not included. This led to an immaterial tie for second place. The Manchester votes were later verified and added to the scores, demoting the song Call My Name down to third place. The following day, the 12 songs were broadcast on Terry Wogan's Radio 2 show and a recap of the top places, plus an interview with the winners took place on the BBC TV Show Nationwide the same evening.

Final

A Song for Europe 1979 –8 March 1979 [1]
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)PointsPlace
1 Black Lace "Mary Ann"Peter Morris1321
2Lynda Virtu"You Are My Life"Tony Colton & Jean Roussel 828
3Ipswich"Who Put the Shine on Our Shoes?"Nola York905
4 Herbie Flowers and the Daisies"Mr Moonlight" Herbie Flowers, Doreen Chanter 905
5M Squad"Miss Caroline Newley" Adrian Baker 4411
6Eleanor Keenan"Call My Name" Roger Whittaker 1093
7 Guys 'n' Dolls "How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?"Ben Findon & Michael Myers5610
8Linda Kendrick"All I Needed Was Your Love"Doug Taylor3312
9Monte Carlo"Home Again (Living With You)"David Knowles837
10Sal Davis"Let It All Go" Paul Curtis 779
11 The Nolan Sisters "Harry, My Honolulu Lover"Terry Bradford1014
12Kim Clark"Fantasy"Richard Gillinson1172

UK Discography

  • Black Lace - Mary Ann: EMI EMI2919.
  • Lynda Virtu - You Are My Life: Mercury/Utopia TANGO7.
  • Ipswich - Who Put the Shine on Our Shoes?: Epic SEPC7195.
  • Herbie Flowers & the Daisies - Mr. Moonlight: EMI EMI2917.
  • M Squad - Miss Caroline Newley: Ariola ARO150.
  • Eleanor Keenan - Call My Name: CBS SCBS7198.
  • Roger Whittaker - Call My Name: Columbia DB9065.
  • Guys 'n' Dolls - How Do You Mend a Broken Heart?: Magnet MAG141.
  • Linda Kendrick - All I Needed Was Your Love: Epic SEPC7199.
  • Monte Carlo - Home Again (Living With You): EMI EMI2918.
  • Sal Davis - Let It All Go: Decca F13825.
  • The Nolan Sisters - Harry, My Honolulu Lover: Epic SEPC7197.
  • Kim Clark - Fantasy: CBS SCBS7196.

Only the winning song reached the UK singles chart.

At Eurovision

Black Lace were the winners of A Song for Europe with "Mary Ann" and went on to place 7th at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem.

This was also the only Eurovision between 1972 and 2008 in which Terry Wogan did not provide either the television or radio commentary. Wogan had originally been scheduled to provide the television commentary but opted out of going to Israel following comments he made of the 1978 winner "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" sounding like "I Wanna Be a Polar Bear". Instead his Radio 2 colleague John Dunn provided the television commentary. Ray Moore provided the radio commentary on both BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2. [2]

Voting

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<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).

References

  1. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 328–351. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
  2. ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest Volume Two: The 1970's. UK: Telos Publishing. p. 354. ISBN   978-1-84583-065-6.
  3. 1 2 "Results of the Final of Jerusalem 1979". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
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