save your kisses for me

Description

Brotherhood Of Man - Save Your Kisses For Me - Eurovision Songcontest 1976 - United Kingdom - 1st Place - ESC - :-) Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s, most notably by winning the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initially an umbrella title for a frequently-changing line-up of session singers. Early on, they scored a worldwide hit with the song "United We Stand". By 1973 the concept had run its course and Hiller formed a definite four-member line-up consisting of Martin Lee, Lee Sheriden, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens. This version of the group went on to score many hits around the world in the mid to late 1970s including "Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby", "Angelo", "Oh Boy (The Mood I'm In)" and "Figaro". They achieved perhaps their biggest success in their native UK with three number one singles and four top twenty albums. Their worldwide record sales have topped 15 million. The group under this line-up still continues today, performing shows throughout Europe and have occasionally released independently-produced albums. Eurovision victory Performance at Eurovision 1976 In early 1976, Hiller was keen for Brotherhood of Man to make an impact in the UK and decided to put "Save Your Kisses for Me" forward to the A Song for Europe competition. This year saw a change to the Contest in that, since 1964, one specific artist had performed all the songs (e.g. Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Lulu, etc.), but 1976 saw the return to the format in which any artist was eligible to enter. "Save Your Kisses for Me" made it to the final twelve songs and on 25 February, Brotherhood of Man took the title, beating the second placed act, Co-Co by two points. Now signed to Pye Records, "Save Your Kisses for Me" was released as a single in March and hit the No.1 spot two weeks before the Contest final. On 3 April, the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest was staged in the Netherlands and Brotherhood of Man performed the song, dressed in red, white and black with simple choreography devised by Guy Lutman. "Save Your Kisses for Me" took the title with an overwhelming victory. As manager Hiller stated; "..."Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby" was a hit all over Europe in '75. I firmly believe it opened the door for us a year later and helped us do well because they knew us - every weekend we'd travel to do TV spots in France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland". The song became a major hit around the world and made No.1 in many countries and returned the group to the US Charts. The song eventually sold six million copies worldwide and is still the highest selling Eurovision winner ever. In the UK, it stayed at No.1 for six weeks and earned them a platinum disc. It ended up the top selling single of the year and is currently one of the top 100 selling songs ever in the UK.