Back in a time when Europe still voted for us, the UK won the Eurovision Song Contest five times. One of the most notable wins was in 1981 when Bucks Fizz took the trophy with Making Your Mind Up. Now, almost 40 years later (and after a “re-branding”), The Fizz will take to the stage of the EM Forster Theatre in Tonbridge on Saturday 17th October to perform their first live (and socially distanced) gig since lockdown.
This week I was lucky enough to get to chat with original band member and TV regular Cheryl Baker about getting back on stage with The Fizz, but also about her time in the music business, the acrimonious split with Bobby G, their Eurovision success and a night in 1984 which could easily have had fatal consequences…
I was going to start in 1981 but let’s go back to 1978, and your first appearance in Eurovision.
Ok, yes, I was one of the members of a band called Co-Co and we represented the UK with a song called The Bad Old Days. I had intended to wear a skirt with the outfit they gave me but, when I put the leotard, the cape with the feathery collar and the knee high boots on they said, ”Wait, that looks great, you don’t need a skirt” and so I went on without it.
And what a look it was – just fab! And then you were back losing your clothes again in 1981.
What can I say – I just like to reveal myself on television! We discovered that ripping off the skirt was just shocking enough – I’m pretty sure without the skirt coming off, we probably would have come second but they wrote Making Your Mind Up to win the Eurovision contest and, together with that dance routine, it worked.
Had you met the other band members before then, or was that the beginning?
No, I hadn’t met Mike, Bobby or Jay before then. The woman who put Bucks Fizz together, Nichola Martin, I knew her. At that point I had left Co-Co but I was working at the recording studio where we had made “The Bad Old Days”. As well as being a trained secretary, I was also available to do any backing singing that was needed. When Nichola saw me working there she was surprised, so I told her that I had left Co-Co and, shortly after that she called me and said, “I’m putting a new group together, do you want to be in it?” – and that was that!
The first time I saw Mike Nolan was at the beginning of January 1981. I went to Nichola’s house to hear the song that they wanted us to do for Eurovision and, as I walked in the door, I saw Mike coming down the stairs, right in front of me, wearing nothing but a white fluffy towel. He was a vision and I knew that I wanted to be in the band.
Winning Eurovision was a massive achievement, and your huge success afterwards was well deserved but then, on a night that I am sure you will never forget in December 1984, it all went horribly wrong, didn’t it?
Yes it did. We were in Newcastle. It was a hugely successful evening, the gig was sold out and the next day we were doing a Christmas special for a show that I was presenting called “How Dare You!”. Everyone from the TV programme had come to watch the show and they all came back to the dressing room after the show for champagne, all of us looking forward to the next day.
We boarded our coach to go to the hotel which was 10 or 12 minutes away, that’s all. On the A1 there was a contraflow so it was just a single track, not dual carriageway. When they did the accident investigation apparently our coach was at fault, as we were slightly over the line and, as the articulated lorry was turning onto our side of the road, we hit it side on. Mike and I were at the front of the coach and we went flying through the windscreen and, after that I don’t remember anything.
You say it’s a night I will never forget but, actually, I don’t remember the accident at all, neither of us do. All we remember is waking up in the road. Mike was relatively ok at that time, other than the fact that he had a splitting headache, but I had broken some vertebrae in my back and was unable to move.
He came in to the hospital room to see me the next day and I had this cage over me to stop anything touching me because, as well as my back, I had lost a lot of flesh on my legs. We were such a mess, both of us looked like our hair had been back-combed with blood and glass. I said, “If your fans could see you now!” and he said, “Cheryl, don’t make me laugh, I’ve got such a headache and they won’t give me any pills.” – and that night he slipped into a coma.
I have seen the picture of the wrecked coach. It’s amazing that you all came out of it alive.
You know, 25 years later, we went back to Newcastle and we did a gig there. After the show we met the paramedics that came and “scraped us off the floor”. It was so moving to get a chance to thank them and there were lots of tears. They told us that, when they saw the carnage as they approached, they said to each other “we’ve got fatalities tonight”.
Well, someone was looking after you that night because here we are, 36 years later, and after a couple of name changes, you are still going strong.
Well, after the original line up split we had to call ourselves something. You see, Bobby G’s wife owns the trademark Bucks Fizz, so we are not allowed to use it, which is crazy. Legally, it is right but, in my opinion, morally it’s utterly wrong.
So we settled on The Fizz. I spoke to the trademark people and they told us that the name The Fizz is owned by a television company but they have given us legally documented permission to use the name. We don’t own the trademark, but we can use the name, so since 2016 we are The Fizz.
So now, after all these years, what can people expect from a concert by The Fizz?
We do a really good mixture of the old and the new, but it depends on the type of event we are playing at. For instance, if we’re doing an 80’s festival, they don’t want the new stuff so we always do the three number 1 songs, Making Your Mind Up, My Camera Never Lies and The Land of Make Believe and all the others from back then like New Beginning, If You Can’t Stand The Heat, Piece of the Action, When We Were Young and Now Those Days are Gone.
But, if it’s a Fizz gig, like the one in Tonbridge, we also have Fizz fans coming along and they know all of the new stuff, so we do a combination of both but, whenever we do a show, we always include the big hits, always.
Have you done any shows since lockdown started back in March?
No, the last concert we did was on the 15th of March. We have been together since lockdown. For instance, on Sunday we filmed part of a new television series called “That Was Then, This Is Now” where they have taken people who started way back, but are still making music now like us and Paul Young, Limahl, Toyah, Owen Paul, Steve Harley, Sonia and Right Said Fred. It’s a great line up and it will be a brilliant show because we all played our hits from back then, and our new stuff.
So this will be your first “socially distanced” show won’t it?
Yes, everyone in the audience will be masked up but that’s ok, you have to accept that at the moment but, even with masks on, they can still cheer, and clap and stamp their feet! What’s really good is that Bravo Productions are taking such good precautions to make sure that everyone stays safe. People can book up to six seats together and then there will be a few seats left empty between each group of people.
It’s good that we are now at the stage where live indoor events can happen.
Oh honestly Paul, it’s been so bad. Talking to all of those other artists when we were doing the filming for the TV show, they all said the same. It’s been six months. What has happened to our industry? It’s on its knees and it’s almost as if it’s the forgotten industry.
That is the main reason for shows like our one. We are doing our very best, in very challenging times, to bring live performance to the people. We have to give them something to cheer them up and hopefully there will be more of this kind of gig coming up in the future… What else can we do otherwise?
We are really looking forward to Saturday 17th October and to getting back on stage to do what we do best – and this really will be a night I’ll remember.
The Fizz will be performing their new live show “2020 Fizzion” at the EM Forster Theatre, Tonbridge on Saturday 17th October 2020 – Audience tickets are available to book online. You MUST book your ticket in a bubble of 1 to 6 people. The seating plan is arranged in these socially distanced bubbles. Book your tickets now at http://www.emftheatre.com – With only limited availability it is going to be a very special night.