| United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1999 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | |||
| Country |  United Kingdom | |||
| Selection process | The Great British Song Contest 1999 | |||
| Selection date | 7 March 1999 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Say It Again" | |||
| Artist | Precious | |||
| Songwriter | Paul Varney | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 12th, 38 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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The United Kingdom was represented at theEurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Say It Again", written byPaul Varney, and performed by the groupPrecious. The British participating broadcaster, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the contest,The Great British Song Contest 1999. Eight songs competed over two rounds, with four songs selected through a radio-broadcast semi-final to advance to the televised final round, held on 7 March 1999, where viewers selected the winning entry throughtelevoting. "Say It Again" performed by girl groupPrecious received the most votes and was selected to represent the nation in the contest.
Precious performed fifth at the international contest, and at the close of the voting process the UK finished in 12th place, receiving 38 points from 10 countries. At the time this result was the UK's second-worst placing in its competitive history, and was the nation's first finish outside of the top 10 countries in 12 years. "Say It Again" charted in several singles charts in Europe following the contest, and following further limited commercial success as a group Precious subsequently disbanded in 2001.
Prior to the 1999 contest, theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had participated in theEurovision Song Contest representing the United Kingdom 41 times since its first entry in 1957 and had competed in all but two editions of the contest.[1] Before this year's event, it had won the contest five times: in1967 with the song "Puppet on a String" performed bySandie Shaw, in1969 with the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed byLulu, in1976 with "Save Your Kisses for Me" performed byBrotherhood of Man, in1981 with the song "Making Your Mind Up" performed byBucks Fizz and in1997 with the song "Love Shine a Light" performed byKatrina and the Waves.[2] It had also finished in second place on fifteen occasions, more than any other country. At theprevious year's contest, it finished in second place out of twenty-five competing entries with the song "Where Are You?" performed byImaani amassing a total of 166 points.[1]
Per therules of the 1999 contest, as the UK featured among the 17 countries with the highest average scores over the past five editions, they were permitted to enter the upcoming contest, and the BBC were subsequently included on theEuropean Broadcasting Union's (EBU) list of the 23 countries that had signed up to partake in the contest.[3] The BBC opted to select its chosen entry for the contest through a national final,The Great British Song Contest 1999.[4][5]
The BBC organised a public selection process to determine its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999.The Great British Song Contest was organised for the fourth time, and a similar format to that used for previous contests was implemented: following a public submission process, eight songs were selected to compete in a semi-final broadcast onBBC Radio 2, where listeners would choose four entries viatelevoting to progress to a televised final onBBC One, where a second round of public voting would determine the winning song that would represent the UK at Eurovision.[4] More than 840 songs were submitted to the competition; a 40-song shortlist of these entries was presented to a panel of music professionals representing theBritish Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, which reduced the number of potential entries to 20, and BBC contest organisers then selected the eight semi-finalists from this shortlist on 21 January 1999.[4]
The eight semi-finalists were featured on the Radio 2 showsWake Up to Wogan andThe Ken Bruce Show between 1 and 4 February 1999, with two songs being played each day on both programmes.[6][7] The semi-final was then held on 5 February, hosted byTerry Wogan andKen Bruce. Once all songs had been played, listeners were invited to vote for their favourites through televoting.[6][8] More than 21,000 votes were cast during the one-hour voting window, and the result was announced at the end of the programme, with the qualifying songs being announced in alphabetical order by title.[6]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alberta | "So Strange" |
| Finalist |
| 2 | Cheryl Beattie | "Fly" |
| Eliminated |
| 3 | Energia feat. Ann McCabe | "All Time High" | Marc Andrewes | Eliminated |
| 4 | Jay | "You've Taken My Dreams" |
| Finalist |
| 5 | Leanne Cartwright | "Wait Until the Morning" |
| Eliminated |
| 6 | Precious | "Say It Again" | Paul Varney | Finalist |
| 7 | Sister Sway | "Until You Saved My Life" |
| Finalist |
| 8 | Susan Black | "Separate Lives" | Susan Black | Eliminated |
A free promotional CD featuring extracts of the four finalists was released and made available in high street record shops.[9] Ahead of the final each of the four participating acts performed their competing entries onTop of the Pops on BBC One, with one act appearing each week over four editions:Precious appeared on the 12 February 1999 edition; Sister Sway on 19 February 1999;Alberta on 26 February 1999; and Jay on 5 March 1999.[10]
The final was held on 7 March 1999, hosted byUlrika Jonsson and broadcast on BBC One.[9][11] Jonsson provided live links between the pre-recorded performances, with short introductions by the songwriters of each song preceding a repeat airing of each act's performance fromTop of the Pops.[9] Other segments of the broadcast included clips from the 1998 contest inBirmingham, an interview with last year'sGreat British Song Contest winner Imaani, footage of the upcoming Eurovision host city Jerusalem and the contest venue, and a repeat during the end credits ofABBA's winning performance of "Waterloo" from the1974 contest to mark 25 years since the Swedish group won the contest inBrighton.[9] Televoting lines opened following the performance of the final act, with a one-hour voting window provided in which viewers were able to vote; the results were subsequently announced by Jonsson on 12 March 1999 duringTop of the Pops onBBC Two, with the top three acts announced in reverse order along with the number of votes received.[9][12][5] 3.14 million viewers watched theGreat British Song Contest final on BBC One, and theTop of the Pops results show attracted an audience of 3.04 million.[9]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alberta | "So Strange" | 51,708 | 2 |
| 2 | Jay | "You've Taken My Dreams" | 43,765 | 4 |
| 3 | Precious | "Say It Again" | 52,457 | 1 |
| 4 | Sister Sway | "Until You Saved My Life" | 51,398 | 3 |
Ahead of the contest, Precious made several appearances on UK television programmes to promote their entry to the British public. The group made appearances onITV'sbreakfast TV showGMTV, the BBC's children's TV showFully Booked, took part in a live phone-in interview from Jerusalem on the BBC'sBlue Peter, and made a further performance onTop of the Pops, broadcast on 28 May 1999, the day before the contest.[13][14] A BBC documentary,Precious: A Band for Britain, was broadcast on BBC One on 24 May 1999 which followed the members of the group from their first performances to being selected to represent the UK at Eurovision.[14][15] "Say It Again" was released as an enhancedCD single on 17 May 1999, which featured additional mixes and amusic video of the song.[13][16]
The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, on 29 May 1999.[17] According to theEurovision rules, the 23-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the winning country from the previous year's contest; the 17 countries, other than the previous year's winner, which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last five contests; and any countries which had not participated in the previous year's content.[3] The UK was one of the 17 countries with the highest average scores, and thus were permitted to participate.[3] The running order for the contest was decided by a draw held on 17 November 1998; the UK was assigned position five, followingCroatia and precedingSlovenia.[3][17]
Precious took part in technical rehearsals at the venue on 24 and 26 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 28 and 29 May.[18] Ahead of the contest the UK were considered one of the favourites to win amongbookmakers, alongside the entries fromSweden,Iceland, andCyprus.[18][19][20] The contest was broadcast in the UK on television and radio, with Terry Wogan providing commentary for BBC One and Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2.[21][22][23] Wogan also made an appearance during the contest's opening segment, when the contest hostsDafna Dekel,Yigal Ravid andSigal Shachmon held a brief conversation with him on his experience as the host of the previous year's contest.[21]
At the end of the contest, the UK placed equal 12th, withBelgium, receiving a total of 38 points.[24][25] This marked the UK's second-poorest placing in the contest at that time, and was the UK's first finish outside of the top 10 countries since1987.[1][26][27] The contest was watched by a total of 8.91 million viewers in the UK.[27][28]
The same voting system in use since 1975 was again implemented for this event, with each country providing 1–8, 10 and 12 points to the ten highest-ranking songs as determined by a selected jury or the viewing public through televoting, with countries not allowed to vote for themselves.[3] This was the second contest to feature widespread public voting, and the UK opted to implement this method to determine which countries would receive their points, with an 8-member back-up jury assembled in case technical failures rendered the telephone votes invalid.[3][27] Around 323,000 valid votes were registered in the UK in total during the five-minute voting window, which determined the UK's points.[27] The BBC appointedColin Berry as its spokesperson to announce the results of the British vote during the broadcast.[27]
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Following the contest, "Say It Again" reached a peak of number 6 on theUK Singles Chart and also featured in Sweden'sSverigetopplistan and Belgium'sUltratop.[30][31][16] Precious continued to release new music, having some limited success in the singles chart and releasing aself-titled album in 2000.[32][33] The group eventually disbanded in 2001: later that yearJenny Frost became a member of British girl groupAtomic Kitten;Sophie McDonnell went on to host several television programmes, including the BBC's children's shows50/50 andThe Saturday Show; Louise Rose moved into acting, appearing in several roles in TV and film; Kalli Clark-Sternberg found work as asession singer; andAnya Lahiri returned to modelling and acting and subsequently became a fitness instructor.[34][35][36]
Ahead of the2000 contest a new rule was introduced which provided the UK with a permanent spot in the contest. As one of the highest-paying EBU member broadcasters, which provided the largest contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest, the UK, along with France, Spain and Germany, became one of the"Big Four" countries that would automatically qualify to each year's event, irrespective of the average number of points received in past contests.[3][17]
