SWEET DREAMS

The One-Hit Wonders – The 80s Part 16.

The Eurovision Song Contest has now been going for several decades, and it needs little introduction really. I thought that I would take a look back at story of the United Kingdom’s entry one year in the 80s, and I have decided to choose 1983, partly because this is the year that I was born, and also because this was back in the days when the UK still had a half-decent chance of winning.

The success of Bucks Fizz was only a couple of years earlier at this point, could any group be found that could repeat the magic formula? After having to go through the tense process of A Song For Europe, it turned out that Sweet Dreams would represent the UK in West Germany. This was a trio consisting of Bobby, Carrie, and Helen. They had a dance routine and a rather catchy song, because you’ve got to put on a show as well, but would this be enough to win over the judges? vlcsnap-00422

There was also some publicity, and they appeared in a few magazines, where they were rather optimistic about their chances. When the time came, the performance of “I’m Never Giving Up” led to Sweet Dreams finishing in sixth place with 79 points, which was considered to be rather disappointing at the time. The winner turned out to be Luxembourg for the fifth and final time, and they haven’t entered the contest since 1993. sd1

And in April 1983, “I’m Never Giving Up” was released, and reached no. 21. Sweet Dreams didn’t have any more hits after this though, and it is surprising how many Eurovision acts went on to have no further chart success. A while after this, it was announced that they had changed their name to Dreams and were planning to work on some more songs, but this didn’t really happen. vlcsnap-00423

After Sweet Dreams went their separate ways, Carrie went on to have some further success as a TV presenter, including CITV’s mid-80s game show How Dare You! where she had no problem with joining in with all the zaniness, and later on she used her musical expertise to become a judge on BBC1’s Fame Academy, the musical talent show that Pop Idol could’ve been.