BROTHERHOOD OF MAN - THE FACTS
It's already more than 20 years since Brotherhood of Man
won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK in the Nederlandse
Congresgebouw in The Hague (Holland) with the immortal Save
Your Kisses For Me, collecting a total of 164 points. Until
then the group had been almost unknown in its own country. The
song was to become the best-selling Eurosong, even bigger than
ABBA's Waterloo from 1974 and Mocedades' Eres
tú from
1973, until now a healthy second and third. But Brotherhood
of Man had not always been so successful.
SESSION SINGERS
The history of Brotherhood of Man - or The Brotherhood of
Man
as they were known till 1973 - is erratic. In 1969 producer and
composer Tony Hiller, after a small success in 1969 in the
Netherlands
with his Tony Hiller Orchestra (Where the Rainbow Ends),
brought together five session singers: Roger
Greenaway,
Tony Burrows (14-4-42), Johnny
Goodison,
Sunny Leslie and Sue Glover, who
under
the name The Brotherhood of Man recorded the single
Love
One Another.
All five already had deserving careers behind them: Roger
Greenaway
as lead singer of The Fortunes (You've Got Your
Troubles
and Here it Comes Again); Tony Burrows as a singer in the
groups The Kestrels, The Ivy League (Tossing
And Turning) and The Flowerpot Men (In A Moment
Of Madness); Johnny Goodison, alias Johnny B. Great, as a
singer in Johnny B. Great & the Goodmen and The
Quotations and, alias Peter Simons, as a composer; Sue &
Sunny as a duo and as backing singers
for people like Mott the Hoople, The Love Affair's
Steve Ellis, Lulu and Joe Cocker.
Before The Brotherhood of Man, Johnny Goodison also worked as
a producer and one of the results was the single Colours Of
The Rainbow by The Medium, a band including the future
lead singer of The Rubettes, Alan Williams. Besides he
arranged for The Love Affair.
The single Love One Another flopped, but soon afterwards
the second single came out, United We Stand. This song
reached the top 10 in 1970 in the UK, was almost in the top 10
in the USA, and was in the breakers in the Netherlands. But
formally
the group didn't exist. That is why almost the only existing
visual records
of the group as it was at that time are promotional clips.
THE SUCCESS
Both the group's name and the song had so much impact in the USA
that, a year after the Stonewall riots, United We Stand
became
the anthem of the rising gay liberation movement in America. Tony
Burrows left the group because besides United We Stand
he also scored hits with other session groups as The
Pipkins
(Gimme Dat Ding), White Plains (My Baby Loves
Lovin') and Edison Lighthouse (Love Grows (Where
My Rosemary Goes)) and because he made some solo hits. In
1974 he was to return briefly to the charts with The First
Class (Beach Baby). Roger Greenaway also left and was
replaced by Russell Stone.
The follow-up to United we stand, titled Where
Are You Going To My Love, was a top 25 hit in the UK and a
top 70 hit in the USA. But after that the success was over for
The Brotherhood of Man. For a moment there seemed to be a revival
in 1971, when Reach Out Your Hand reached 77 in
the USA. The follow-ups however flopped one after the other.
Johnny, Russell, Sunny & Sue kept recording
songs as The Brotherhood of Man till 1973. After that,
nothing more was heard of the foursome.
It is said that both
Johnny
and Russell and Sue & Sunny toured for some years with one of
the orchestras of
James Last. Sue Glover entered the British A Song For
Europe in 1981 with For only a day fronting the group
Unity. Roger and Johnny both wrote songs for A Song For
Europe, in 1968, 1974, 1977 and 1980 respectively. Johnny
Goodison died on 3 September 1988. Sunny Leslie released two solo LPs,
and a single, Doctor's Orders, that hit the UK charts in
1974.
Looking back it is difficult
to say if The Brotherhood of Man ever was a real group.
All its members sang in other (session) groups or solo. And songs
of The Brotherhood of Man easily appeared on solo records of
Sunny
Leslie (Maybe the Morning) or The Pipkins LPs
(The
World Gets Better With Love). It's interesting, though, that
Elton John in his pre-fame years backed this Brotherhood
of Man on Top of the Pops and recorded United We
Stand
for one of the immensely popular coveralbums of the 70s. This
song was released
officially, under Elton's real name Reg Dwight, in a '95
remix on a CD-single.
A NEW BEGINNING
Secretly, however, from 1971 onwards Tony Hiller was busy
ripening
his act for the stage - but with three other singers:
Martin
Lee (26-11-49) and Lee Sheriden (11-4-49),
who had then already worked for some years as writers for Tony
Hiller's publishing company, and Nicky Stevens
(3-12-51).
Lee Sheriden and Martin Lee had just released solo singles for
Deram, Sweetest Tasting Candy Sugar and Cry Hosea
respectively. Nicky, originally classically trained, had gained
experience on the cabaret circuit. The threesome's first single,
Rock Me Baby from 1972, was
withdrawn, when it became clear David Cassidy would
release the song. The first results were therefore two
Brotherhood of Man singles in 1973, Happy Ever
After
and Our World Of Love. At the start of 1974 Martin Lee for a short period lead singer of a group called Shabam that releases a single, Planet Of The Apes written by Martin, Lee and Tony Hiller.
After Sandra Stevens
(23-11-49) - not Nicky's sister - crossed the path of the
threesome,
the group as we know it today was complete. Before that Sandra
had gained a lot of experience working for the Joe Loss
and Ken MacKintosh big bands and in the band Jason
Flocks.
In 1974 they released their first single, When Love Catches
Up On You. The Netherlands would soon turn out to be their
country of good fortune, because they scored their first success
here - and only here - with Lady (reaching number 22 in
1974). But the rest of Europe - except the UK - followed suit
in 1975, when Kiss Me, Kiss Your Baby reached the top 10
in many countries. And then the train kept on running!
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
At the beginning of 1976 Brotherhood of Man won A Song for
Europe shortly before the group Co-Co, the group that
was to represent the UK two years later with The Bad Old
Days.
The further success story of Save Your Kisses For Me is
well known. The song got to no.1 in 34 countries, became one of
the five best-selling singles of the 1970s in the UK, and even
reached the no. 27 spot in the USA - again with ABBA, Mocedades,
Domenico Modugno
and Gina G. the only Eurosongs that reached the higher regions
of the American Billboard charts.
Save Your Kisses For Me will forever haunt the further
career of Brotherhood of Man. But Brotherhood of Man is more than
this song only, and they have recorded better singles. However,
the song is one of the group's personal faves.
SUCCESS AGAIN
The success story went on. Save Your Kisses For Me was
followed by such hits as My Sweet Rosalie and Oh Boy
(The Mood I'm In). After these hits the time was ripe in both
the UK and Ireland for Brotherhood of Man's second no. 1 hit, the
beautifully sung Angelo about a Mexican
shepherd boy and his impossible love. The follow-up to
Highwayman,
Figaro was again no. 1 in the UK and Ireland and
accomplished
their trio of no. 1 hits. But there wasn't only chart success.
Martin and Lee also received three Ivor Novello Awards in all
for their compositions. Then the lean years began. After
Figaro,
Brotherhood of Man had only some small hits with Beautiful
Lover, Middle Of The Night and Papa Louis -
the latter one only in the Netherlands. An LP Good Fortune
meant for 1980 was only released in Australia. Instead a cover LP was
released,
Brotherhood of Man Sing 20 Number One Hits, and this
surprisingly
turned out to be one of their best-selling albums in the UK. Two
cover LPs followed, but with much less success. On stage the
group
however still remained very popular. Amongst others they toured
with David Soul.
In 1982 Lee Sheriden left the group and was replaced by
Barry
Upton. In that year they also scored a minor hit in the
UK with Lightning Flash, their last one. In 1983 the group
had another shot at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song
When The Kissing Stops, written for the group
Rubic.
Word went round that the group originally wanted to enter A
Song for Europe themselves, but decided at the last minute
not to take part in the competition. The song came fifth out
of eight entries. Rubic didn't release the song. Brotherhood
of Man did, but without success. In 1984 the group called
it a day - not because of any quarrel but simply out of artistic
exhaustion. Barry Upton kept working with Tony Hiller and with
him wrote, amongst others, some hits for Sonia. Besides
that he released a solo single in 1986, Call The D.J.,
and produced also the '89 remix of The Nolan Sisters'
classic
I'm In The Mood For Dancing and work of Dollar and
Hazell Dean. In 1997 Barry at last released own work
again. From his group Wild At Heart was the CD Barry
Upton - Wild at heart made available then. In the same year
he also made the backing tracks for the Mike Nolan/David Van Day
led Bucks Fizz and wrote and produced the big hit for
Steps, 5, 6, 7, 8. For Barry Upton & Wild At Heart's 1998
album 5, 6, 7, 8. The Album Barry recorded his own version of
this European hit for Steps.
COME-BACK
In 1985 Brotherhood of Man were invited in the 1976 outfit for a kind
of Do You Remember programme. It was then that they
arrived
at the conclusion that they wanted to get back together. In the
intervening period Nicky recorded some demos for a rock album
that eventually didn't materialise and Lee earned a degree in
music and produced for others. Martin and Sandra almost formed
a new group. The group then toured the English cabaret circuit
again and a new Lee Sheriden song was added to the repertoire,
Raise Hell Fire, that didn't make it to vinyl. In 1988
Nicky recorded two duets with Dutch singer Albert West,
Hey Paula and I'm Leaving It Up To You. After a
session for the Gulf Aid song As Time Stood Still
(with a lot of other artists) in 1990, the time was ripe for new
material. Without Tony Hiller, but with Dutch producer Eddy
Ouwens, 18 songs were recorded: 12 remakes of old hits and
six new songs. However, these songs stay unreleased. The songs
from
the family musical The Butterfly Children, written in 1991
by Martin Lee, David Kane and Paul Curtis, fared little better.
The musical
had a fairly good season in the London West End. The soundtrack
sung by Brotherhood of Man was available at the theatre.
But this soundtrack, too, got no fullblown release. However, some
songs reached the general public on two children's story
cassettes
of The Butterfly Children. In 1997 however Martin Lee
acquired the copyrights to the characters of The Butterfly
Children. He then started to write new stories about the
characters and made a colouring book.
In this year Brotherhood of Man at last released a new
album called Greenhouse. In the course of the same year
Nicky Stevens recorded some rock demos as Aslan together
with some of the members of the band of Brotherhood of
Man.
CHANGE OF COURSE
The Butterfly Children and the shows show a clear change
of course.
The group has switched away from the sweet image to a mature rock
image. On The Butterfly Children they even use rap. On
stage the sweet hits are interspersed by up-tempo new songs like
Greenhouse and all-time faves like Wind Beneath
My Wings, I (Who Have Nothing) and for example
1999.
Most surprising is the choice for their repertoire of songs like
Paradise By The Dashboard Light and the Foreigner
hit Jukebox Hero. The last song really is one of the
highlights
in the career of Brotherhood of Man. Abandoned also are
the '70s dance routines, which makes a big difference to the
past.
They have given themselves a different outfit with a lot of
leather
and black. Not gone however are Save Your Kisses For Me,
Angelo and Figaro. And rightly so!
GAY-MINDED
Brotherhood of Man appear frequently once again on the British
cabaret
and gay circuit, notably in the holiday camps and hotels of
Butlin's
and in London at the gay disco G.A.Y., where a lot of
other
ex-Eurovision acts like Bucks Fizz, Baccara and
The New Seekers regularly appear as well. Brotherhood of
Man haven't forgotten about their beginnings as The Brotherhood
of Man. Regularly they end their concert with United We
Stand,
in gay venues dedicated to the gays, as it should be, given the
history of the song. And the big success of Save Your Kisses
For Me for Brotherhood of Man also has its influence on the
legacy of The Brotherhood of Man, as almost all of their
repertoire
is released on a compilation CD! If you ever come across an ad
for an appearance of Brotherhood of Man, go there. You'll
never regret it!
If you have any comments, amendments or additions to this
biography
please send an e-mail to bom@wanadoo.nl,
René van der Drift.
