Co-Co was a six-piece

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

which represented the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Paris, France, following the country's victory at the with the song "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant" by Marie Myriam. Organised by the European Broadcas ...

, staged at the Palais de Congrès in

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France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, on 22 April 1978, with the song " The Bad Old Days". The song was written by the song writing team Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater (aka Stewart James). It was finally placed eleventh of the 20 entries, which at the time was the worst showing ever for a UK entry. It would not be until 1987 that any British song fared worse in ''Eurovision''. The group were originally called Mothers Pride.

Eurovision

At the time, the group consisted of Terry Bradford, Josie Andrews,

Cheryl Baker Rita Maria Stroud (''née'' Crudgington; born 8 March 1954), known professionally as Cheryl Baker, is an English singer and television presenter. She was a member of pop group Bucks Fizz, which won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and, followi ...

, Keith Hasler and Paul Rogers. For their performance in Paris, a drummer named Charlie Brennan was added to the group. They won the preliminary heat ''A Song for Europe'', having previously placed second, again as a quintet, but with only Bradford, Hasler and Baker in the original line-up, together with Peter Perrera and another female singer, Vivien Banks (who would later join The New Seekers) when they appeared in the 1976 UK final, singing ''Wake Up'' written by the Arrows ''I Love Rock 'n' Roll'' songwriting team of Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker. Perrera appeared in the 1976 contest with a shaved head, having promised his bandmates he would go bald if they made the final. Additionally, the group returned as a quartet (minus Andrews and Rogers, but with a new female singer Helen Bailey) as The Main Event, for the 1980 ''A Song for Europe'' contest. Oddly, despite this new line-up, Josie Andrews still appeared on stage with the group, providing

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

to the main quartet. On this occasion they placed last with the song ''Gonna Do My Best'', written by Bradford. Bradford also wrote a song for the 1979 UK final, ''Harry, My Honolulu Lover'', performed by The Nolan Sisters, which placed fourth, having originally been recorded as a demo by Co-Co featuring vocals by Cheryl Baker. Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater went on to win the ''A Song for Europe'' contest a second time, in 1980, with the song '' Love Enough for Two'' performed by

Prima Donna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...

, ironically beating the new line up of Co-Co in the process.

Cheryl Baker in Bucks Fizz

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, Cheryl Baker returned to the UK contest, as part of the group Bucks Fizz. When Bucks Fizz won the UK final, Baker thus became only the third singer ever to represent the UK twice, following in the footsteps of

Ronnie Carroll Ronnie Carroll (born Ronald Cleghorn; 18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer, entertainer and political candidate. Music career Carroll was born Ronald Cleghorn in 116 Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934, th ...

and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

. When Bucks Fizz went on to win the

1981 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "What's Another Year" performed by Johnny Logan. Organised by the Euro ...

with the song "

Making Your Mind Up "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz with music composed by John Danter and lyrics written by Andy Hill. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut single, the group having been formed just two months earl ...

", Baker became one of the few artists to take part in Eurovision to win at their second attempt. According to ''The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History'' by

John Kennedy O'Connor John Kennedy O'Connor (born in 1964) is a television and radio broadcaster, author, and entertainment commentator. He was born in North London, England, but is a naturalized citizen of the United States. He has written, reported and broadcast f ...

, Baker also made the second biggest improvement by a Eurovision competitor in the contest, moving up from eleventh in 1978 to first in 1981.

Post Eurovision

"The Bad Old Days" reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. The group had no further hit singles, and only released one album, ''Bad Old Days'' in 1978. Bradford and Hasler continued to work together long after the group's demise in 1980 and are writing and producing new work in the 21st century. In 2020, together with Sussie Arvesen, they released several new tracks including "Road to the Unknown" as COCO featuring Terry Bradford, Sussie Arvesen & Keith Hasler.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Discography

Albums

;Co-Co *1978 – ''Bad Old Days'' (Hansa International)

Singles

;Mothers Pride *1974 – "Follow the Man with the Music" (Pye) *1975 – "Oh Well, Oh Well" (Pye) ;Co-Co *1976 – "Wake Up" (Pye) *1976 – "Don't Push Me 'Round" (Pye) *1977 – "Money Song" (Ariola) *1978 – " Bad Old Days" (Ariola) *1978 – "I Can't Talk Love on the Telephone" (Ariola) *1978 – "Way Out" (Ariola) *1980 – "Keep On Dancing" (RCA) ;The Main Event *1980 – "Gonna Do My Best" (Carrere)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Co-Co British mixed-gender vocal pop groups British pop music groups Musical groups established in 1976 1976 establishments in the United Kingdom Ariola Records artists Eurovision Song Contest entrants