Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston, the iconic duo from Eurovision-winning group Bucks Fizz, have admitted that their most famous song, Making Your Mind Up, is not to their personal taste. The track, which won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, remains a staple of their live performances, but Baker confessed she would not have bought the single if she were not in the band.
Cheryl Baker's Honest Admission
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk ahead of their appearance at the Retrospective Festival, Baker said: "I'm very proud of practically all of Bucks Fizz's back catalog. The only song that I'm not keen on is Making Your Mind Up." She quickly added: "But I don't mind singing it. It's just not my cup of tea. Put it this way. If I hadn't been in the band I wouldn't have bought it. But it was perfect for Eurovision and without it, where would I be? Where would any of us be without it? So, for that reason, I absolutely love it actually."
The Famous Skirt Rip: Then and Now
The song's iconic routine involves Baker and Aston having their skirts ripped off on stage, a moment that still draws cheers from audiences. Aston admitted she sometimes feels too old for the stunt. "Heavens forbid no! And I do sometimes think, 'Oh my god, I'm far too old to be doing this,'" she said. "But often when people book us, they say, 'Are you still doing the skirt rip?' They still want that moment because that's what people remember us for. So it'll be Zimmer frames next. But we still do the skirts and everyone gets their phones out at that moment. So you know, it's quite an iconic memory, I suppose."
The duo revealed a behind-the-scenes secret: in recent performances, they actually rip off their own skirts and hand them to the male singers, rather than having them removed by the men. "We just used to do it ourselves, you know, and hand it to Mike (Nolan) and to some degree I still have to depending on what costumes we wear," Baker explained. "I usually end up doing the Velcro and just handing it to them but it looks like it's the old way. So it's a bit of a fiddle."
A New Lease of Life as The Fizz
Baker and Aston now perform together as The Fizz, and 18 months ago they welcomed two new male singers, Matthew Pateman and Nikk Mager, after the retirement of original member Mike Nolan. This marks the first time in years they have had a four-vocalist lineup. Aston said: "It's literally given us a new lease of life and their vocals are so strong that it's really opened up what we can achieve. I would say it's way better than I think it's ever been - we've got literally like the whole spectrum of vocals now, which is great."
The Fizz will perform at the Retrospective Festival at Sherdley Park, St Helens, Merseyside, on Friday, 11th September. Tickets are available now.
