United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997

The United Kingdom's entry into the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest was "Love Shine a Light" by Katrina & the Waves. During this year the UK won the song contest which was being held in Dublin, Ireland, with an unprecedented 227 points. The UK sang at position 24. The lead singer was Katrina Leskanich. The 1997 contest is the most recent win for the United Kingdom.

National final

Dale Winton hosted the UK selection show, The Great British Song Contest, on 9 March 1997. The final results were as follows:

1st - Love Shine a Light by Katrina & the Waves (69,830 votes)

(written by Kimberley Rue)

2nd - Yodel in the Canyon of Love by Do Re Mi & Kerry (58,696 votes)

(written by Kenny and Gordon MacDonald)

3rd - You Stayed Away Too Long by Joanne May (51,584 votes)

(written by Don Black and Richard Kerr)

4th - For the Life You Don't Yet Know by Sam Blue (votes not announced)

(written by Nick Spindler and Peter Thompson)

On 7 February, a semifinal was held on BBC Radio 2 at 09:30am, presented by Ken Bruce. This featured eight songs. Radio 2 listeners voted at 10:00am and voting closed at 11:15am and the top 4 went forward to the televised final. In addition to the four listed above, the following were included, although these were eliminated:

Can't You See I'm Crying - Paul Varney

(written by Rowan Heath and Steve Long)

Heart of Stone - Dave Black

(written by Nicola Philo)

Lighten Up - B-Yond

(written by Lee Lyndsey, Mike Bryan and Dave Christie)

Room for Change - Laura Pallas

(written by Cliff Cresswell and Laura Pallas)

Each of the 4 finalists were featured each week on the National Lottery show:

16/2/97 - "Love Shine a Light"

23/2/97 - "Yodel in the Canyon of love"

1/3/97 - "You stayed away too long"

8/3/97 - "The life you don't yet know"

The Great British Song Contest was held on Mother's Day, Sunday 9th March 1997 and televised on BBC 1 at 15:30pm. Gina G was special guest at the show. The final was hosted by Dale Winton. There was no simultaneous broadcast with Radio 2.

Katrina and the Waves was by far, the best known of the 4 finalists. Their "Walking on Sunshine" was a big hit in the UK and most of Europe.

Paul Varney was better known as half the boy duo Yell! and later enjoyed as solo career as an artist signed to PWL Records.

Joanne May was only 18 years old for her performance. Her composer, Don Black was the most famous name among the composers this year and had previously submitted songs into the UK final, "Come September" for Lulu in 1969 and "Happy Everything" for Maggie Moone being his most memorable.

B-Yond had appeared on the children's TV show Blue Peter on Thursday 7th February but none of the other 7 entries did so. The "teen idol" pop group consisted of Jaden Cornelious, Nataylia Roni, Steve Whyte and Elaine Morris. Their follow up single was a re-working of "Born Free" (made famous by fellow UK finalist Matt Monro) which was a charity single to raise money for the Quality of Life Animal Sanctuary in Devon.

Laura Pallas was on Motorcity Records on the Nightmare label, which produced a lot of Hi-Nrg artists during the late 1980s

Sam Blue had already been at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 as a backing singer for Emma with "Give a little love back to the world" and had previously been at the UK final of 1996 in the duo Esseness singing "I Never Knew" and has worked with Dennis Waterman on the theme tune for the BBC1 show "New Tricks". Sam has his own band in America called California Screaming.

At Eurovision

The UK was awarded 12 points (the highest possible) a total of 10 times.

Points Awarded to the United Kingdom

Points Awarded to the United Kingdom^[1]
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Austria Croatia Denmark France Hungary Ireland Netherlands Russia Sweden Switzerland	Bosnia and Herzegovina Estonia Germany Greece Poland	Iceland Italy Slovenia	Cyprus Portugal Turkey	Norway
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Spain				Malta

Points Awarded by the United Kingdom^[1]

12 points	Ireland
10 points	Estonia
8 points	Hungary
7 points	Sweden
6 points	Iceland
5 points	Cyprus
4 points	Turkey
3 points	Italy
2 points	Denmark
1 point	Croatia

References

1 2 Eurovision Song Contest 1997

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

Participation

~~1956~~ 1957 ~~1958~~ 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Artists

1950s	~~1956~~ Patricia Bredin ~~1958~~ Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson

1960s	Bryan Johnson The Allisons Ronnie Carroll Ronnie Carroll Matt Monro Kathy Kirby Kenneth McKellar Sandie Shaw Cliff Richard Lulu

1970s	Mary Hopkin Clodagh Rodgers The New Seekers Cliff Richard Olivia Newton-John The Shadows Brotherhood of Man Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran Co-Co Black Lace

1980s	Prima Donna Bucks Fizz Bardo Sweet Dreams Belle and the Devotions Vikki Watson Ryder Rikki Scott Fitzgerald Live Report

1990s	Emma Samantha Janus Michael Ball Sonia Frances Ruffelle Love City Groove Gina G Katrina and the Waves Imaani Precious

2000s	Nicki French Lindsay Jessica Garlick Jemini James Fox Javine Hylton Daz Sampson Scooch Andy Abraham Jade Ewen

2010s	Josh Dubovie Blue Engelbert Humperdinck Bonnie Tyler Molly Electro Velvet

Songs

1950s	~~1956~~ "All" ~~1958~~ "Sing, Little Birdie"

1960s	"Looking High, High, High" "Are You Sure?" "Ring-A-Ding Girl" "Say Wonderful Things" "I Love the Little Things" "I Belong" "A Man Without Love" "Puppet on a String" "Congratulations" "Boom Bang-a-Bang"

1970s	"Knock, Knock Who's There?" "Jack in the Box" "Beg, Steal or Borrow" "Power to All Our Friends" "Long Live Love" "Let Me Be the One" "Save Your Kisses for Me" "Rock Bottom" "The Bad Old Days" "Mary Ann"

1980s	"Love Enough for Two" "Making Your Mind Up" "One Step Further" "I'm Never Giving Up" "Love Games" "Love Is" "Runner in the Night" "Only the Light" "Go" "Why Do I Always Get it Wrong?"

1990s	"Give a Little Love Back to the World" "A Message to Your Heart" "One Step Out of Time" "Better the Devil You Know" "Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)" "Love City Groove" "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" "Love Shine a Light" "Where Are You?" "Say It Again"

2000s	"Don't Play That Song Again" "No Dream Impossible" "Come Back" "Cry Baby" "Hold On to Our Love" "Touch My Fire" "Teenage Life" "Flying the Flag (for You)" "Even If" "It's My Time"

2010s	"That Sounds Good To Me" "I Can" "Love Will Set You Free" "Believe in Me" "Children of the Universe" "Still in Love with You"

(Note: Entries scored out are when United Kingdom did not compete)

Eurovision Song Contest 1997

Countries

Final (by final results)	United Kingdom (winner) Ireland Turkey Italy Cyprus Spain France Estonia Malta Slovenia Poland Greece Hungary Sweden Russia Denmark Croatia Germany Bosnia and Herzegovina Iceland Austria Switzerland Netherlands Norway Portugal

Artists

Final (by final results)	Katrina & The Waves Marc Roberts Şebnem Paker & Grup Etnic Jalisse Hara & Andreas Konstantinou Marcos Llunas Fanny Maarja-Liis Ilus Debbie Scerri Tanja Ribič Anna Maria Jopek Marianna Zorba V.I.P. Blond Alla Pugacheva Kølig Kaj E.N.I. Bianca Shomburg Alma Čardžić Paul Oscar Bettina Soriat Barbara Berta Mrs. Einstein Tor Endresen Célia Lawson

Songs

Final
(by final results)

(Note: All information are in order of appearance

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