The United Kingdom was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1974 The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 6 April 1974 in the Brighton Dome, Dome in Brighton, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the BBC, ...

with the song " Long Live Love", written by Valerie Avon and

Harold Spiro Harold Jacob Spiro (25 June 1925 – 11 December 1996) was an English songwriter. He is best known for his co-writing with Valerie Avon, particularly the song " Long Live Love" (1974) performed by Olivia Newton-John, which was the UK's entry i ...

, and performed by

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

. The British participating broadcaster, the

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

(BBC), selected its entry through a national final, after having previously selected the performer internally. In addition, the BBC was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, after the winner of the , the (CLT) from , opted not to host the event.

Before Eurovision

''A Song for Europe 1974''

The show was held on 23 February 1974 and presented by

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

as part of the BBC1 TV series ''Clunk, Click... As It Happens'', with Olivia Newton-John selected to perform all of the entries, in part due to the recommendation of her close friend

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 ...

. Originally, as with 1973, Cilla Black's 1974 nine-part BBC series was scheduled to feature the 'Song for Europe' process, but Black was uncomfortable at promoting another female singer (Newton-John) each week throughout the series' run and in a rather last minute decision, the BBC arranged to move the process to another show. This necessitated a truncating of the regularly established format of the chosen artist performing one song a week on the given series, so it was planned that Newton-John would perform two songs a week for three weeks once the series started. However, a BBC strike led to the cancellation of the first show, so another revision was needed and Olivia performed three songs a show over two programmes. In the final, her performances were immediately repeated before viewers were asked to cast votes via postcards through the mail to choose the winner. An extremely low postal vote led to " Long Live Love" winning with just 27,387 votes.

Chart success

The top two songs from the contest were released on single, reaching No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart, the first UK entry since 1966 not to reach the top ten, or indeed, the top four. Newton-John had just signed a new international recording contract with EMI, who released the single in most territories, but it was released on Pye International in the UK as the final commitment of her previously existing contract. All six songs were included on her debut EMI album '' Long Live Love'' released later in 1974, although these tracks were dropped from the US release ''

If You Love Me, Let Me Know ''If You Love Me, Let Me Know'' is the third North American album by singer Olivia Newton-John, released on 28 May 1974. Other than the title track, 3 songs were from her previous two international albums, ''Olivia'' (1972), '' Music Makes My D ...

''. Subsequently, all six songs became available on CD compilations. Newton-John recorded a German version of the winning song and

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945) is a Finland, Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring Finland's se ...

recorded a Finnish version "Kun rakastaa". Marie Toland and 'Stephanie' recorded French versions of the winner and several others from the UK selection. Dana, Jimmy Jones and

The Dooleys The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK record chart, chart hit record, hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits "Wan ...

recorded other tracks from the UK final.

At Eurovision

"Long Live Love" went on to tie for fourth place in the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast live on

BBC 1 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 (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

with sports presenter

David Vine David Martin Vine (3 January 1935 – 11 January 2009) was an English television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards, most notably covering major snooker tournaments for the BBC. Early life Born in Newt ...

undertaking the television commentary, whilst

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 ...

returned to providing the radio commentary on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

. British Forces Radio also provided a broadcast with commentary provided by Richard Astbury. The contest was seen by over 8 million viewers.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1974

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974

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

Olivia Newton-John