Cheryl Baker rocketed to fame when her band Bucks Fizz won at the 1981 Eurovision with their hit track Making Your Mind Up.
The singer will appear on Channel 5’s tell-all programme Top of The Pops: Secrets & Scandals, which will air on September 27, 2024.
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Cheryl has a had a long career both in music and TV.
Since her 1981 Eurovision appearance, she has presented TV shows alongside some of the small screen’s biggest names.
Bethnal Green Beginnings
Cheryl was born on March 8, 1954, in Bethnal Green to her toolmaker dad Ted and her mum Doll.
After seeing an ad for the group Mother’s Pride in Melody Maker magazine, she joined up with the group which soon renamed itself CoCo.
They competed in the A Song For Europe competition in 1976, but were beaten by Brotherhood of Man who won Eurovision that year.
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A hit song and a Velcro skirt
In 1980, she was approached by a record producer, Nichola Martin, to star in a new group who would record “Making Your Mind Up”.
Cheryl took a gamble on the new group which paid off, as the song rocketed to No.1 in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.
The song also won Eurovision in 1981, thanks to a stunt on stage.
The male members of the band tore off the women’s skirts, which were attached with Velcro, revealing shorter skirts beneath.
Since the competition, Cheryl has shared that she actually doesn’t like the song.
Rivalries soon began to cause cracks in Buck Fizz’s happy exterior, as Cheryl frequently argued with band mate Bobby Gee and with Nichola.
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Horror crash
On December 11, 2024, Buck Fizz’s tour bus collided with a lorry, injuring Cheryl and the band.
It later transpired that Cheryl had broken three vertebrae in her spine but she recovered quickly.
Her band mate Mike Nolan suffered a serious head injury, which inspired Cheryl to found the HeadFirst charity.
The charity supports victims of crashes, particularly those with head injuries.
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Swapping music for TV
Bucks Fizz declined in popularity and Cheryl said that soon they were performing in bingo halls.
She left the band in 1993 to persue a career in TV, landing a presenting gig on the children’s show How Dare You! in 1984.
Cheryl also hosted The Saturday Picture Show with Mark Curry and Record Breakers with Roy Castle.
Her own show Eggs ‘n’ Baker, which featured guest musical performances and cooking, ran for five years.
Since her TV heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s, she has occasionally returned to music though she failed to reach chart success.
Fans were reintroduced to the star when she appeared on the tenth series of Dancing on Ice, though she was the fourth contestant to be eliminated.
Cheryl also guest starred in a special episode of Eastenders, which celebrated Eurovision’s return to the UK in 2023.
The song contest was hosted in Liverpool, on behalf of Ukraine.
Married life
Cheryl married Cliff Richard’s bass player Steve Stroud in 1992.
The pair share twin daughters together, whom they conceived via IVF.
The Bucks Fizz singer is the vice-president of the stillbirth charity Abigail’s Footsteps, which donates materials and money to hospitals where stillbirths have occurred.
Record breaker
Cheryl has broken many records in her career.
In 1987, she and Gyles Brandreth kissed for three minutes and 33 seconds which broke the then-record for the longest onscreen kiss.
She also set a world record for the longest rope slide at Blackpool Tower.
Other world record events that she has been part of include the world’s largest Jazz ensemble and the world’s longest Riverdance line.
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Formerly of Bucks Fizz
Cheryl reunited with her bandmates Mike Nolan and Shelley Preston in 2004 to form The Original Bucks Fizz.
Following Shelley’s departure and replacement with Jay Aston, the band became embroiled in a legal dispute with Bobby Gee and eventually renamed themselves to Cheryl, Mike and Jay- Formerly of Bucks Fizz.
They later renamed themselves The Fizz and released two top 30 albums.
