How we made Bucks Fizz's Making Your Mind Up

Cheryl Baker, vocals

When I was 13, I watched Sandie Shaw win the Eurovision song contest. It was the first time Britain had won and I thought it was like getting gold at the Olympics. It became my ambition, but I never thought it would happen to a girl from a council flat in Bethnal Green in London.

I first did Eurovision in 1978, with a group called CoCo. When I told the manager my name was Rita Crudgington, he said: “Well, that’ll have to go.” We finished 11th and I felt like I’d let the country down. But then I auditioned for Bucks Fizz. Everyone had to be short and blonde – which fortunately I was. To get in, Bobby G had to bleach his hair.

Andy Hill, the band’s songwriter, first played Making Your Mind Up to me on a piano in Fulham. I didn’t think much of it. I preferred Joni Mitchell, but it did sound like a Eurovision hit. Andy had the backing track already recorded, so the four of us just had to add vocals. Mike Nolan’s impromptu shout of “Here we go!” ended up on the recording.

The song had a rockabilly feel, so I wanted to wear a long skirt that would fly out. But Jay Aston wanted a mini. I said: “Aw, let’s have both.” Our choreographer just went: “That’s it! During the line ‘If you wanna see some more’ we take the top skirt off and there’s a little one underneath. It was genius. We pinned the skirts together with Velcro and unveiled the routine in the Song for Europe heats. My future husband was in one of the other acts and when Mike and Bobby tore off our skirts, he told his group: “We might as well go home now.”

The skirt routine was a gasp moment and we repeated it in the final. Without it, I think we’d have come second. Winning changed my life completely. We still do the skirt routine. Every single day, someone somewhere will ask me to rip my skirt off – at the supermarket, at the train station, wherever. Someone once offered me £500 to do it, but I’m generally wearing trousers.

Mike Nolan, vocals

When we recorded the song, I raised an eyebrow at the line: “Don’t let your indecision take you from behind.” It sounded really rude. Andy laughed and said: “Never mind that, just sing it.” We needed a name and were stuck for ideas. Then Nichola Martin, who’d put the band together with Andy, said: “Anyone fancy a bucks fizz?” She meant the cocktailbut I said: “That’s a good one!”

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I met Cheryl at the auditions and we hit it off straight away. When I had to lift her up during the dance routine, she’d always whisper something funny in my ear to put me off. We never expected to win Eurovision. The first country gave us just four points, but then the eights started rolling in. Germany came close to beating us, but Switzerland wouldn’t vote for them.

I still rib Cheryl about her singing out of tune, but we were all so nervous and excited. As we went on stage, I realised the whole country and everyone I ever knew would be watching. I remember thinking: “You can’t do anything wrong.” It all became too much and, right at the beginning, as we were waggling our bums with our backs to the cameras, I let slip a really rude word. Cheryl went: “I hope they don’t hear that!” Thank God the microphones didn’t pick it up or we’d have been ruined.