Tag: Brotherhood of Man

R.I.P. Martin Lee

Martin Lee, lead singer of the pop group Brotherhood of Man, died at the age of 77. The British group won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 with Save Your Kisses for Me.

“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our friend and colleague Martin Lee. He passed away peacefully on Sunday evening due to heart failure following a short illness,” Brotherhood of Man wrote in a statement.

Lee was part of a second formation of the band in 1972 after the first group split up. In addition to being a guitarist, he was the lead singer of the group. In 1976, they represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. The band received the most points and won with the song Save Your Kisses for Me, which subsequently became an international hit. It reached number one in the Dutch Top 40.

Brotherhood of Man also scored hits with songs such as Kiss Me, Kiss Your Baby, Oh Boy and Angelo. The band has remained a welcome guest at Eurovision concerts in recent years.

Lee was married to Brotherhood Of Man band member Sandra Stevens until his death. Source: nu.nl.

Eurovision 1977

Today the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country’s victory at the 1976 contest with the song “Save Your Kisses for Me” by Brotherhood of Man. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the contest was held at the Wembley Conference Centre, marking the first time the event took place in the month of May since the first contest in 1956. The contest was directed by Stewart Morris and hosted by English journalist Angela Rippon.

Eighteen countries participated in the contest; Sweden returned after its absence from the previous edition, while Yugoslavia decided not to enter.

The winner was France with the song “L’Oiseau et l’Enfant“, performed by Marie Myriam, written by Joe Gracy, and composed by Jean-Paul Cara. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Monaco and Greece rounded out the top five. Greece’s fifth place finish was their best result up to that point. France’ fifth win was also a record at the time, and one that France held onto for six years, until being equalled by Luxembourg in 1983.

Eurovision 1976

On this day in 1976, the 21th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in The Hague, Netherlands, following the country’s victory at the 1975 contest with the song Ding-a-dong by Teach-In. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting(NOS), the contest was held at the Nederlands Congrescentrum and was hosted by 1957 Dutch Eurovision winner Corry Brokken.

Eighteen countries took part in the contest with Sweden, Malta and Turkey opting not to return to the contest after participating the previous year. Malta would not return to the contest again until 1991. On the other hand, Austria and Greece returned to the competition, having been absent since 1972 and 1974 respectively.

United Kingdom won the contest this year with the song Save Your Kisses for Me by Brotherhood of Man. The song went on to become the biggest selling winning single in the history of the contest and won with 80.39% of the possible maximum score and an average of 9.65 of 12; a record under the voting system introduced in 1975.