Linda Jobling finds Cheryl Baker has nothing but fond memories of the North-East in spite of that coach crash 30 years ago

OKAY, so the poppy Making Your Mind Up was always a front-runner from the start, but it was the iconic moment that those skirts came off that sealed Bucks Fizz’s place in Eurovision history.

They went on to achieve numerous just-as-catchy hits such as Land of Make Believe and My Camera Never Lies, and now the band have decided to relive those days with a full UK tour, including the Customs House, in South Shields, and the Phoenix Theatre, in Blyth.

The best-known band member Cheryl Baker has more than made up mind up about the BF legacy. “It’s all nostalgia, it’s all the hits, there’s lots of changes of costume, a great light show and we’ve got a big screen behind us showing some of the old videos that we did back in the day,” she says. “Velcro is included,” she hints at a skirt-ripping re-enactment. “All the dance routines are there. And towards the end of the show there’s a big 1980’s medley where I defy anyone not to get up and start dancing. We always have such a lot of fun and we make sure the audience have a lot of fun as well.”

The band have added a new fourth member to the ensemble for this particular outing, in the form Bobby McVay who was also a contender for Eurovision, in 1983, with a band called Sweet Dreams. Baker describes him as “a great harmonies singer, a good dancer, but more importantly he’s a real nice guy and the fans have taken to him as if he’s been there since day one.”

Baker recalls how she’d always wanted to be a singer from the days when she first left school and became a shorthand typist/secretary. “It was in my bones”, she says, citing her idols as Cosby, Stills and Nash and Joni Mitchell.

She began her singing career with a band named Coco, who Eurovision diehards will remember as the UK entry in 1978. “The woman who put Bucks Fizz together thought of me because she knew I’d left Coco and I had experience and I could sing a bit and dance a bit,”, she recalls. “When she did the demo of Making Your Mind Up she did the female vocals and Mike Nolan, a friend of hers did the boy’s vocals, and lo and behold the song was picked to be in A Song For Europe and she then had to put a group together. Jay came through a dance agency and Bobby answered an advert and literally we all sat together in Nicola’s living room and she said, 'Right, you are now called Bucks Fizz.” The name coming from the founder’s favourite drink.

Three decades on, the band members remain in good shape. “We are all pretty fit” agrees Cheryl, “Jay in particular. Our routines aren’t that energetic that we get out of breath really, but it does keep you fit because we are always on the go. I run a lot, I regularly go out and do at least five miles.”

Baker admits to having a constant battle to stay trim. “I’m always overweight because I like my life too much. Hopefully, on this tour I will be too busy to eat.”

On 11 December 1984, returning from a sell-out gig at Newcastle City Hall, the group's tour bus collided with road works. Bobby G was treated for whiplash, Jay Aston suffered back injuries and severe head pains, Baker broke three vertebrae in her spine, but Nolan had a bleed on the brain and remained in a coma for three days. Surgeon Anthony Strong at Newcastle General Hospital said that his condition was critical. The effects of the crash mean that Nolan now has epilepsy, short-term memory problems and a 50 per cent loss of vision in both eyes. Baker and Nolan helped set up the HeadFirst charity for head injuries of crash victims. Nolan, Baker and Aston played a charity concert, on December 12, 2009, at the same venue

Baker has fond memories of Newcastle, describing the region’s people as being “just the loveliest and friendliest and great response to a gig”. Clearly not put off by the experience, she adds, “We just love coming up there, we’re just so looking forward to it.”

Bucks Fizz clearly have fun while they work and Baker sums up the 1980s as being “feel-good music, a great era, the best ever”.

Pop music being a melting pot for reputations, today, there are two versions of the group: the official version, which includes original member Bobby G, and the three-member version who tour under the name Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, formerly of Bucks Fizz.

  • Cheryl, Mike and Jay, formerly of Bucks Fizz – Customs House, South Shields – Friday 30th September 2016 and Phoenix Theatre, Blyth – Saturday, October 1. Tickets: https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/cheryl-mike-and-jay-formerly-of-bucks-fizz