United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980

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Eurovision Song Contest 1980
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process A Song for Europe 1980
Selection date(s)26 March 1980
Selected entrant Prima Donna
Selected song"Love Enough for Two"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result3rd, 106 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1979 •1980• 1981►

The 1980 "A Song For Europe" contest was held on 26 March 1980 (the same day as that year's budget), at the BBC Television Theatre in Shepherd's Bush and was hosted by a dinner-suited 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. The theme music was "Te deum" the Eurovision theme.

Contents

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1980

12 songs were chosen by the Music Publisher's Association.

Following his second place in the 1979 contest, songwriter Richard Gillinson was asked to submit a song to replace the disqualified entry "Tell Me" by The New Seekers, which was eliminated two weeks before the final after the group began promoting the track before the contest. [1] Gillinson's song "Surrender" was performed by the same artist who presented his 1979 song, Kim Clark. The lead vocal of "Tell Me" was taken by New Seeker Nicola Kerr, who had been one of the 'Plus Two' who had finished 3rd for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977.

The twelve songs were voted on by 14 regional juries, who awarded 1-12 points to each song. Each of the 11 jurors awarded 1-5 points to each song, the total scores being added up, with the song earning the most points being awarded 12 points, the second placed song earned 11, the third 10 and so on, down to 1 point for the song with the fewest votes.

The jury spokesperson could be seen on screen awarding the votes, sometimes with the jury members in vision. These were broadcast from the BBC's 14 regional news studios.

Owing to a tie break and with the live show quickly running out of time, a clearly flustered Terry Wogan, unsure of what to do in this unprecedented circumstance, returned to the 14 juries who were hastily asked to pick their favourite between songs two and five. Some juries ignored their previous voting and switched allegiance to Prima Donna who won by eight votes to six. [2]

A Song for Europe 1980 –26 March 1980 [1]
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)PointsPlace
01Scramble"Don't Throw Your Love Away"Peter Morris976th
02 Maggie Moone "Happy Everything" Geoff Stephens, Don Black 1372nd
03Plain Sailing"Easy"Colin Stewart, Alan Stewart, Paul Stewart, Robert Freeman1114th
04Sonja Jones"Here We'll Stay"Tony Colton, Jean Roussell 5611th
05 Prima Donna "Love Enough for Two" Stephanie de Sykes, Stuart Slater1391st
06Jacqui Scott"Symphony for You"Johnny Goodison, Keith Mansfield 678th
07Duke and the Aces"Love Is Alive" Paul Curtis 947th
08Roy Winston"Everything's All Right"Roy Winston5810th
09Midnite"Love Comes, Love Grows"Gary Sulsh, Stuart Leathwood629th
10 The Main Event "Gonna Do My Best"Terry Bradford4512th
11 Pussyfoot "I Want to Be Me"Mick Flynn, Mark Stevens1114th
12Kim Clark"Surrender"Richard Gillinson1293rd
Detailed Jury Votes [1]
DrawSong
Aberdeen
Newcastle
Plymouth
Leeds
Southampton
Bangor
London
Cardiff
Birmingham
Glasgow
Belfast
Bristol
Norwich
Manchester
Total score
1"Don't Throw Your Love Away"1075836591010957397
2"Happy Everything"1188118101012126101285131
3"Easy"651210129875569611111
4"Here We'll Stay"12124241032885456
5"Love Enough for Two"81291291212118876116131
6"Symphony for You"5101012711844121167
7"Love Is Alive"7111176562973310794
8"Everything's All Right"26631424235102858
9"Love Comes, Love Grows"4324781379444262
10"Gonna Do My Best"3436533111213945
11"I Want to Be Me"91751117661112111212111
12"Surrender"129491011951112117910129
Tie-Break [1]
Song
Aberdeen
Newcastle
Plymouth
Leeds
Southampton
Bangor
London
Cardiff
Birmingham
Glasgow
Belfast
Bristol
Norwich
Manchester
Total score
"Happy Everything"XXXXXX6
"Love Enough for Two"XXXXXXXX8

UK Discography

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision itself, "Love Enough for Two" scored 106 points and was positioned third overall. The event took place in The Hague in the Netherlands and was won by Ireland's "What's Another Year?" by Johnny Logan. [3]

Terry Wogan provided the BBC television commentary, whilst Steve Jones provided the BBC Radio 2 commentary. Regular Eurovision radio commentator Ray Moore served as spokesperson for the UK jury. This was the start for Wogan's continuous television commentary which he would do every year until 2008.

Voting

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

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Roxburgh, Gordon (2016). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Three: The 1980s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 11–36. ISBN   978-1-84583-118-9.
  2. ↑ A Song for Europe 1980
  3. ↑ "Final of The Hague 1980". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Results of the Final of The Hague 1980". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
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