Formed 1981, London, UK: Mike Nolan – vocals; Bobby G (Robert Gubby) – vocals; Cheryl Baker (Rita Crudgington, ex-1978 Eurovision entrants Co-Co) – vocals; Jay Aston – vocals. Put together to perform Making Your Mind Up for the 1981 Song For Europe contest, they sailed through the UK heat and won the Eurovision Song Contest itself, going on to become the UK’s most successful Eurovision winners and, for a while, the nearest thing to a British ABBA. Within a year they had scored three number 1 hits, The Land Of Make Believe and My Camera Never Lies following Making Your Mind Up to the top of the chart. Throughout 1982 and ’83 they maintained success with increasingly mature material such as the largely a cappella Now Those Days Are Gone and the frankly alarming When We Were Young, but a road accident during the band’s December 1984 tour left Nolan in a coma and effectively marked the end of their time as a major act. Nolan recovered and the band continued with Shelley Preston replacing Aston, but only 1986’s New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) returned them to the charts.
In the 1990s, with their hit-making days behind them, Bucks Fizz settled quickly into the cabaret circuit. Various line-up changes ensued, most surprisingly involving the recruitment of ex-Dollar singer David Van Day in 1996. At one stage in the late ’90s there were two versions of the band actively touring; the “original” version which still featured Bobby G, and Mike Nolan’s version who counted Van Day amongst their ranks. When Nolan left this version of the band, Bobby G sued Van Day for continuing to call his act “Bucks Fizz” despite including no original members of the band. They finally settled out of court in 2002. Bobby continues as a member of Bucks Fizz to this day, and has occasionally reunited with Nolan, Baker and Preston as The Original Bucks Fizz.
ESSENTIAL ’80s BUCKS FIZZ
SINGLES
MY CAMERA NEVER LIES
March 1982, #1
NOW THOSE DAYS ARE GONE
June 1982, #8
NEW BEGINNING (MAMBA SEYRA)
May 1986, #8
ALBUMS
HAND CUT
March 1983, #17
I HEAR TALK
November 1984, #66
WRITING ON THE WALL
December 1986, #89
