Cheryl Baker on 40 years of 'Making Your Mind Up'
It’s now four decades since that exciting evening in Dublin when Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom with their entry ‘Making Your Mind Up’.
The Fizz are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the victory (which took place on Saturday 4 April, 1981) with an online gig and lots of surprises throughout the day. They’re also hoping to mark the occasion later in the year with a live concert when pandemic restrictions ease. Making Your Mind Up is such a well known and much loved Eurovision party staple that it’s easy to forget it only won by 4 points and one of the band members, Cheryl Baker, almost gave up on pop music entirely just before the Contest! Eurovision.tv caught up with Cheryl who told us all about her journey from Bethnal Green to the backstage green room. The Bad Old Days: Paris 1978 Cheryl began her pop career as a vocalist in Co-Co, the United Kingdom’s act for the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest in Paris. The entry was called The Bad Old Days and, unfortunately, it lived up to its name, as the singer explains: Quote:
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Baker laughs about it now and suggests the United Kingdom would jump at the chance to finish 11th these days! Making Your Mind Up: office job or pop stardom? By the 1980s Cheryl had given up on Co-Co and decided to take a secretary job at Mayfair Studios where the group had recorded their music. The career change turned out to be a stroke of luck, as officer worker Cheryl was recognised by singer and music publisher Nicola Martin, who was in the studio working on a demo track… Making Your Mind Up. Nicola played our Co-Co vocalist the song and asked how she felt about joining one of the bands she was putting together for Song For Europe 1981. Quote:
Dublin calling... For Baker, the difference between the French and Irish Contests couldn’t have been more stark: Quote:
With just two juries left to reveal their scores, the United Kingdom, Germany (Lena Valaitis with Johnny Blue) and Switzerland (Peter, Sue and Marc performing Io Senza Te) were tied on 120 points. It came down to the final set of marks. Eight points from Sweden was just enough to put the United Kingdom out of reach, earning Cheryl the gold medal she’d dreamt of as a little girl. Quote:
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https://eurovision.tv/story/bucks-fizz-40th |
Yes she was a Thin lady, then.
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I remember this win very well
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I remember the car crash.
I believe Cheryl went through the windscreen. Lucky girl to survive. I think it was Mike who suffered the worst. |
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Yes the Scars she hides with MakeUp |
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