In January 1981, the four members of Bucks Fizz - Mike Nolan, Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston, and Bobby G - met each other for the first time. Three months later, they were catapulted to international success when 'Making Your Mind Up', with its now famous routine, won the Eurovision Song Contest and raced to the top of the charts in nine countries, selling four million copies worldwide. Bucks Fizz went on to become one of the most popular groups of the 1980s, with 20 UK hit singles, including two further number ones with 'The Land Of Make Believe' and 'My Camera Never Lies', and the Ivor Novello-nominated 'Now Those Days Are Gone'. The group survived a near-fatal coach crash and a lineup change to return triumphantly to the UK top ten with 'New Beginning' in 1986.Often derided by critics, Bucks Fizz produced a wealth of tremendous pop records, and this book is a celebration of the group and their music. It examines every track on every studio album as well as B-sides, bonus tracks, compilations, solo and related material to provide an insight into a much-loved but critically underrated group.
David Waterfield supports Wolverhampton Wanderers, drinks copious amounts of tea and writes for Midlands Rocks. He was a teenager in the eighties and consequently finds himself owning concert memorabilia that is older than some of the people he now works with. He has a degree in English Literature from the Open University, has had poems published in several anthologies and being a self-confessed Bucks Fizz geek has led to his first book for Sonicbond. He lives in the West Midlands, UK, with an ever-expanding record collection.
The story of Bucks Fizz begins in late 1980. It starts with a young songwriter named Andy Hill, three former members of the group Rags and two songs: ‘Making Your Mind Up’ and ‘Have You Ever Been In Love’. Rags were a vocal trio comprised of Steve Glen, Nichola Martin and Jill Shirley. In 1977, they entered the Song For Europe with a song called ‘Promises, Promises’ and released five singles between 1977 and 1980. Although Rags disbanded in 1980, the group members remained in touch as they began branching out in different directions. Steve Glen moved into songwriting and production, recording a solo album and working with other artists; Jill Shirley ventured into management, opening the Razzamatazz agency in London; and Nichola Martin embarked on a professional and personal relationship with Andy Hill and formed the music publishing company Big Note Music Ltd.
In a Radio One interview from 1983, Andy Hill described the two songs he submitted for the Song For Europe, ‘Making Your Mind Up’ and ‘Have You Ever Been In Love’, as the third and fourth ones he had ever written. ‘Making Your Mind Up’ was initially an instrumental backing track in the possession of Nichola Martin that she encouraged Andy Hill to write a song around. Andy Hill enlisted the help of a guitarist he had worked with named John Danter, who was subsequently credited as co-writer of ‘Making Your Mind Up’. When the demo of ‘Making Your Mind Up’ was recorded, it featured vocals by Andy Hill, Nichola Martin and a singer Nichola already knew named Mike Nolan. Mike had previously auditioned for a group that Nichola was in, called Love Together, in 1974, and they had remained in touch since then. From 1977 to 1980, Mike had been a member of the vocal group Brooks, but a chance conversation led to Nichola contacting him to ask for his help in recording the demo of ‘Making Your Mind Up’, as Mike told Me’shah Bryan on theStage And Screen podcast in 2025:
She (Nichola Martin) was up at Polydor Records having lunch with someone from the record company, and he was telling her about this group he had let go, a group called Brooks. She said, ‘Who’s in that band, Brooks? That rings a bell’, and he gave my name, the one he remembered. She said, ‘I know him. He tried to get into Love Together’. So, she phoned me up and said, ‘We’re entering some songs for Song For Europe, and I wondered if you wanted to come to the studios and help us do the demos for the entries?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course I’ll do that for you.’ We went up to the studio, and it was a Saturday morning. We did it verse by verse, got it down, put all the harmonies in there and finished it. Nichola said, ‘That was really good, Mike; if the song gets through, I’ll put you in the group.’ Anyway, the song was accepted. She said, ‘We want you to be in the band. You might as well be in it, Mike; it’s another thing to put on your CV. It’s Song For Europe, and let’s face it, ‘Making Your Mind Up’ will never win it anyway.’
The demo of ‘Making Your Mind Up’ featuring Mike Nolan, Andy Hill and Nichola Martin had been submitted for the Song For Europe, with Nichola writing the name of the artist as ‘Bucks Fizz’ on the entry form. At the point ‘Making Your
