Scooch is a British pop group, comprising performers

Natalie Powers Natalie Powers is an English singer. She is the lead vocalist of the pop group Scooch, who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Early career Natalie Powers began acting at the age of seven when she played the young ...

, Caroline Barnes, David Ducasse and

Russ Spencer Russell Spencer (born 1 March, 1980) is an English singer and television presenter. Scooch Originally formed in 1998, Spencer first gained prominence as a member of pop group Scooch, who signed to EMI and gained four top-twenty hits, includ ...

. Scooch represented the United Kingdom in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

in Helsinki with their song "

Flying the Flag (For You) "Flying the Flag (For You)" is a song performed by British bubblegum pop dance group Scooch. The official single version was available from 30 April 2007 and was released as a physical CD single in the following week, on 7 May 2007. The song de ...

", finishing joint 22nd out of 24 entries after receiving 19 points in the final. The song reached number 5 in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart on 13 May 2007 after having been available for download for two months before that.

Formation

Auditions for an "all-singing, all-dancing pop group" were held between autumn 1997 and spring 1998 in front of the songwriters and producers Mike Stock and

Matt Aitken Matthew James Aitken (born 25 August 1956) is an English songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as part of the 1980s/early-1990s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. Biography He beg ...

and future manager Steve Crosby.

Heidi Range Heidi India Partakis (' Range; born 23 May 1983) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as a former member of the girl group Sugababes. She was an original member of girl group Atomic Kitten between 1998 and 1999, however she left the g ...

auditioned for the group but was declined after it was revealed she was only 14 years old. The final foursome was formed in October 1998. For the first few months the group were kept low-key and spent time on their image and sound. The group's name comes from a term used to ask someone to move up or along a bench or

sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport (sofa), davenport, is a cushioned piece of furniture that can seat multiple people. It is commonly found in the form of a bench (furniture), bench with Upholstery, upholstered ...

Career

Scooch won a contest on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's Saturday morning show ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' was a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for '' Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, ...

'' in 1999. They competed against the boy band Glitterbug, to have their single released. Even though the bands were already formed, this contest was unique as it pre-dates the format of the first music talent reality show to air in the United Kingdom, ITV programme ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...

'' in 2001. Their debut single "When My Baby" charted within the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. This prompted a tour supporting the Irish girl band

B*Witched B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002 ...

, and promoted their second and biggest single "

More Than I Needed to Know "More Than I Needed to Know" is a song by British pop group Scooch. The song was written by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Steve Crosby and was produced by the former two. It was released on 10 January 2000 as the group's second single from thei ...

". It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 5 and went on to see a global release (including Japan, where it hit the top of the record chart). A promotional support tour for boy band Five provided the group with the foundation for their third single "The Best Is Yet to Come" which charted at number 12 in the UK. The group recorded their debut album "Welcome to the Planet Pop" which was released to Top 20 success in Japan. "More Than I Needed to Know" reached number one in Japan, and due to its popularity there, it was featured in the video game DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7thMIX. Scooch performed at every arena in the UK and spent a year as Ambassadors for the Children's Health Authority. Scooch's fourth single came in the form of the flamenco-inspired " For Sure", which made number 15 in the UK. It was followed by the UK version of their album entitled "Four Sure" which peaked just outside the UK Top 40. The band were dropped by their record label and privately split. The group briefly reformed in January 2004 to perform at G-A-Y's ''Gone But Not Forgotten'' night, the success of which prompted the band to do a tour of several gay venues and events around the UK.

Other work

In 2006, Russ Spencer took part in the E4 reality show ''Boys Will Be Girls'', in which he attempted, along with two other ex-boyband members, to pose as a girl-group. Spencer and his bandmates were given four weeks to record a single, make a pop video and play live, all the while posing as females. Spencer has also become a television presenter, presenting TV shows including '' Make Your Play'' for ITV. His theatre work includes starring as the

Child Catcher The Child Catcher is a fictional character in the 1968 film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and in the later stage musical adaptation. The Child Catcher is employed by the Baron and Baroness Bomburst to snatch and imprison children on the streets of ...

in the UK National Tour of ''

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 children's film, children's Musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, ...

''. Caroline Barnes and

have both had various parts on the stage in the West End. Powers has also released two solo singles, "Music to My Heart" and "Unchained Melody", with Almighty Records. David Ducasse established his own performing arts academy in the North East in 2000 training young performers. The school celebrated its 15th anniversary with a celebratory concert, which was performed in April 2015. He has also worked extensively as a producer, writer and director, and continues to perform. Recent roles include Dandini alongside Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallet in ''Cinderella'' at the Newcastle Theatre Royal for Qdos Entertainment, Francis Fryer in the UK tour of ''Calamity Jane'' for Entertainment Unlimited. This Christmas, Ducasse will play the title role in ''Dick Whittington'' at Consett Empire. Barnes and Spencer took part in Series 4 of Channel 4's ''Coach Trip'' and performed in

Harry Hill's TV Burp ''Harry Hill's TV Burp'' (also referred to as ''TV Burp'') is a British television comedy clip series, written and hosted by comedian Harry Hill, and produced by Avalon Television for ITV. The show's format sees Hill take a comedic look tow ...

as the finale performance on 12 March 2010 episode with the song "Flying the Flag (For You)" and the end of the performance, Harry (dressed as a German in

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

clothing) gives them a nul point.

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

''Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up''

On 28 February 2006, it was announced that Scooch were to reform for a

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

bid. The group appeared in the UK selection competition '' Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'' on

on Saturday 17 March 2007, singing and performing their song "

". The show began with six songs selected by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, which were reduced to two songs after the public had voted, the four songs with the fewest votes leaving the competition. The remaining two songs went head to head in a "sing-off" and the public voted again for the outright winner. The show ended in controversy as the final result was announced.

Fearne Cotton Fearne Cotton (born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author. She began her career in the late 1990s as a children’s television presenter for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. She went on to present various television shows, including ''To ...

revealed the winner to be Scooch while, simultaneously in a much louder voice, co-host

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

announced the winner to be fellow entry Cyndi. After several seconds of confusion for the two acts, the crowd and TV viewers, it was revealed that Scooch were the actual winners of the competition and were to represent the United Kingdom in the

. A confused Cyndi was thanked and hurried off the stage by Cotton so Scooch could perform the winning song once again before the programme ended. It was later revealed that Scooch received 53% of the public vote, with Cyndi receiving 47%.

Further controversy

Further controversy ensued when the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' newspaper reported that the band had used two backing singers offstage as part of their performance on '' Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'', with the implication that this had given the group an advantage over rival entrants, although this was allowed. This led to false accusations of miming. Rule 7 of Section 4 of "The Extracts From the Rules for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest" states that "Artists shall perform live on stage, accompanied by a recorded backing-track which contains no vocals of any kind or any vocal imitations." So as long as the backing singers were live no rules were broken. It is common Eurovision practice to have additional singers offstage. For example, the Swedish entry in 2006 featured backing singers who did not appear onstage until the second half of the song. The rule is that a maximum number of six singers/performers can perform, but there is no rule to say that they must all be shown on stage. In a video blog, released on Saturday 24 March 2007, singer-turned-TV presenter

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

claimed that Scooch were not worthy of winning ''Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up''. Church referred to the UK's Eurovision entry, "

Flying the Flag (for You) "Flying the Flag (For You)" is a song performed by British bubblegum pop dance group Scooch. The official single version was available from 30 April 2007 and was released as a physical CD single in the following week, on 7 May 2007. The song de ...

" by Scooch, as "absolute shit" and "embarrassing" for Britain. Church announced that she believed Cyndi should have won the competition instead.

of Scooch hit back saying, "As a mother of a young child myself I find her behaviour and language quite unacceptable. What kind of role model is this for a mum-to-be?" Russ Spencer added, "What a pity the voice of an angel has acquired the mouth of a sewer". On 28 March 2007, Swedish singer

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

claimed that the chorus of Scooch's entry for the

, is a "clear cut" case of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

of the chorus in her song "No Regrets" released in 1999. With the help of the Swedish Musicians' Union, she later contacted the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

in an attempt to have Scooch's entry disqualified from the competition. In response to the plagiarism claim by Pandora, the BBC issued a statement confirming that Scooch's song is "an original" and the writers "were never aware of Pandora or her songs". The BBC confirmed that there had been no duplication of her work. On 3 April 2007, the ''Daily Mirror'' newspaper apologised to the BBC and

for an incorrect story it published stating that the EBU had confirmed that the BBC had breached the EBU's rules during the selection of the UK's Eurovision entry. The flawed story led to rumours of miming by Scooch on the '' Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up'' show and led to accusations of competition fixing by the BBC.

Promotion campaign

On 19 March 2007, Scooch appeared on ''

Richard & Judy ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, revealing that their dance routine for "Flying the Flag (For You)" in the

in Helsinki will be "camper than ever before" and "may involve strings". On 22 March, they appeared on '' This Morning'' on ITV and in the evening on ''

The Graham Norton Show ''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton ...

'' on BBC One, performing shortened versions of the song. On 17 April, Scooch shot the music video for their Eurovision entry "Flying the Flag (For You)" in London. The video was released on 23 April 2007 and could be 'exclusively' seen on the BBC Eurovision 2007 website from 24 April 2007. On 18 April, it was announced that Scooch had been signed to the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

record label. As part of the contract, Scooch recorded several different language versions of "Flying the Flag (For You)", in which the phrases in the song are spoken in French, German, Spanish, Bulgarian and Danish. Throughout early May 2007, the group appeared on several British television programmes and radio programmes and took part in numerous media interviews to promote the song and themselves further. A "child-friendly" version of the song was performed on

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

's ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...

'' with several spoken lines changed to reflect the target audience. Changes included "Would you like a snack sir?" instead of "Some salted nuts Sir?" and "Would you like some sweets Sir?" instead of "Would you like something to suck on for landing sir?". The quartet also performed on the '' National Lottery Draw'' on BBC One and on the ITV show ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about aspects of ...

''. Scooch rehearsed in Helsinki for the

Final from 6 to 11 May and altered several parts of their performance numerous times in the process.

Performance in the ESC Final

On the final night, Scooch finished joint 22nd out of 24 entries with 19 points; seven points from Ireland and the maximum twelve points from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. This was the first time since 2002 that a UK Eurovision entrant had received the maximum twelve points in the competition; Malta later stated that the twelve points was a protest at how many countries in Eurovision voted for their neighbours. Although "

" did not attract major European attention, the song reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart on 13 May 2007, making it the highest charting UK Eurovision entrant since

Katrina and the Waves Katrina and the Waves were a British Rock music, rock band formed in Cambridge in 1981, widely known for their 1985 hit "Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves song), Walking on Sunshine". They won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with the ...

in 1997 and equalling the group's highest-charting song, "More Than I Needed to Know".

After Eurovision

After Eurovision, Scooch announced that although they were staying together as a group, they had no plans to produce new material as they were too busy. However, they said they would be performing live performances and in the future, they will not rule out releasing more songs. They also stated that three of the individual members of Scooch would be performing in theatrical productions. Spencer would be playing The Child Catcher in the UK Tour of ''

'', Barnes would continue her role in '' The Producers'', and Ducasse would be appearing as the lead-character in ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

'' in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

. Powers, however, planned to take time out to look after her son. Notably, a songwriter of Scooch's entry Morten Schjolin participated in the national selection again in 2008 with

Michelle Gayle Michelle Patricia Gayle (born 2 February 1971) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and writer. Gayle had success as a Contemporary R&B, soul and R&B singer in the 1990s, having achieved seven top 40 single (music), singles in the UK Single ...

's entry on 1 March 2008. In 2010, Caroline and Russ, who have subsequently started a relationship, were competitors on the fourth series of British reality show ''

Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show that began airing on Channel 4 on 7 March 2005. The show's premise sees four to seven pairs of tourists undertaking a coach tour principally of continental Europe between twenty and fifty days, whil ...

''. They joined the show on day 18, and were evicted on day 36, making them one of the longest lasting couples of the series. Since 2007, Scooch have continued to tour the UK and Europe, from 2011 performing their new "Scooch do Glee" show. Whilst not performing in the band David continues his role as principal of the Performers Stage School in the North East, he also is Presenter on Pride World Radio. Natalie is a principal and vocal coach at Allstars Academy performing arts school in Hemel Hempstead, Caroline works in musical theatre as a performer and choreographer and Russ is a presenter and singer currently starring in the new touring musical ''The Heat Is On!''. In October 2011 it was announced that Scooch would be performing as a support act to The Mission, who were playing a 25th Anniversary concert at London's Brixton Academy. Scooch were included in the line-up alongside goth legends Fields of the Nephilim and their inclusion caused controversy among both sets of fans. On 30 April 2024, an advert promoting Easyjet's sponsorship of the 2024 Eurovision contest was released on both the officia
Eurovision
an
Easyjet
YouTube pages. The ad features Scooch performing the song ''All Aboard the Orange Plane (The Eurovision Song)''.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

*
Russ Spencer Official WebsiteBBC Radio 2 Eurovision: MYMU 2007 websiteBBC Eurovision 2007 website
(with "

" music video) {{Authority control English pop music groups British Eurodance groups Musical groups established in 1998 Warner Records artists British mixed-gender vocal pop groups Eurovision Song Contest entrants