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Bucks Fizz

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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.

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 Nichola Martin and Andy Hill. Baker had formerly been a member of the group Co-Co, who had spectacularly flopped at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest with the UK entry "The Bad Old Days", becoming the first UK entry to finish outside the top ten in eleventh place. Having done so badly, Baker said she'd never put herself through the misery of doing the contest again! Bucks Fizz 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, she by Nikki Winters and now Tammy Choat.

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". A second volume is due to be released in 2008.

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 the 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. [1]

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 [2]. 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". [3]

Band members chronology

There have been 15 members of the group since its formation in 1981. [4] Bucks Fizz operated as a trio between 1989 and 1993 and an alternate version (not credited here) operated between 1999 and 2002.

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

References

  1. ^ Court refuses to issue injuction
  2. ^ Trouble at the Top documentary BFI database
  3. ^ Bucks Fizz name dispute settled BBC.co.uk
  4. ^ Band chronology
  5. ^ Bucks Fizz's newest member
Preceded by Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
1981 		Succeeded by
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