John Hastings is a Eurovision superfan. John, of Workington, has been an avid watcher of the annual event since 1988. He says that was the year that Celine Dion broke his heart – but he has since forgiven the songstress.
Here, he reveals Cumbria’s connections to the competition.
This Saturday, the 67th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Liverpool.
The UK is hosting on behalf of last year’s winners Ukraine, who are prevented from doing so because of the ongoing conflict.
Will Mae Muller end 26 years of hurt for the UK? Can Sweden’s Loreen follow Johnny Logan as a two-time winning artist? Who will be the unlucky act to score the dreaded nul points? The answer to these and more questions will be known by the end of Saturday night.
However, what is rarely known is that Cumbria has made a strong contribution to Eurovision over the past 50 years in both the senior and junior contests. Here’s what you may not know about our county’s connections…….
Alan Tarney
Born in Workington in 1945, Alan attended the town’s grammar school before emigrating with his family to Australia at the age of 13.
Upon returning to the UK in 1969. Alan began writing songs for Cliff Richard and in 1973 was part of Cliff’s backing group at Eurovision in Luxembourg City, where he played bass guitar and sang backing vocals on Power To All Our Friends.
The song narrowly missed out on victory, finishing third with 123 points, only six behind winners Luxembourg, but was a bigger hit internationally – reaching Number 4 in the UK, Top 10 in 12 other European countries and Number 1 in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Alan enjoyed a second helping of the Eurovision cake in 1975 – by this time he was a member of The Shadows, who represented the UK in Stockholm with Let Me Be The One – this time round, Alan played piano during the performance.
However, as with Cliff two years before, the group fell painfully short of the winning post as they finished second, 14 points behind the Netherlands and their infamous Ding-A-Dong, but they had the last laugh as Let Me Be The One finished one place higher on the UK chart, peaking at Number 12.
Alan went on to write more hits for Cliff Richard and many other singers including Barbara Dickson and Leo Sayer, as well as produce hits for A-ha, St Etienne and Pulp. Now semi-retired and living with his wife Adele in London, Alan still makes occasional visits to Workington, usually for grammar school reunions.
Nicki French
Born in Carlisle in 1964, Nicki moved with her family to Kent when she was four.
After several years as a session singer and backing vocalist, Nicki hit the big time in 1995 when her cover of Total Eclipse Of The Heart became a global smash – Number 5 in the UK and Number 1 in Japan, Canada, Spain and Brazil as well as Top 10 in many other countries from Australia to America (only kept off the top by Bryan Adams).
In 2000, Nicki took part in the UK Song For Europe final and won by just 5,000 votes with Don’t Play That Song Again, which sealed her place in that year’s Eurovision in Stockholm, ironically 25 years after fellow Cumbrian Alan Tarney performed as part of The Shadows.
Although the UK were one of the favourites to win, the song suffered from being drawn to perform second on the night – arguably the most cursed position in Eurovision history as artists rarely do well.
Despite a tremendous performance from Nicki, Don’t Play That Song Again faltered in the voting, receiving only 28 points and finishing 16th – a position that even astonished several of Nicki’s rivals that night. However, there was some consolation as the song made the UK Top 40 chart.
Despite the result, Nicki has no regrets whatsoever about taking part and thoroughly enjoyed her experience – she is still performing regularly at home and abroad on the Eurovision and Pride circuits (performing twice at Cumbria Pride in 2014 and 2016) and recently released an album of covers of her favourite songs from the contest.
Tom Morley
The Junior Eurovision Song Contest began in 2003 and of the four singers who have represented the UK, two have come from Cumbria and not too far from each other either.
Ten-year-old Tom Morley, of Cleator Moor, became the first UK act to represent the UK at the first contest in Copenhagen with My Song For The World and he finished third with 118 points, only 16 behind winners Croatia.
Little is known about Tom’s career after the contest, other than in 2007 he auditioned for The X Factor but age restrictions at the time thwarted him from further progress.
Cory Spedding
In 2004, another Cumbrian won the right to represent the UK at Junior Eurovision – this time round it was 13-year-old Cory Spedding, of Frizington, who did the UK proud in Lillehammer with her song The Best Is Yet To Come, which came second with 140 points, 31 behind Spain.
Following the contest, Cory began a four-year scholarship at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and subsequently auditioned twice for The X Factor, as well as Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice.
Today, Cory still performs across Cumbria on a regular basis with her vocals complimenting the instrumental sounds of local guitarist Stuart Sidney.
An interesting footnote is that both Tom and Cory scored higher at Junior Eurovision than their adult counterparts did – in 2003, Jemini infamously scored the UK’s first nul points while the following year, James Fox did slightly better with 29 points.
