Golden Greats

Peter Robertson speaks to the winners of the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of British pop group Brotherhood of Man's Eurovision victory, but the group's three surviving members will not be reuniting to mark the occasion. One of only five UK successes at Eurovision so far, their catchy song, Save Your Kisses for Me, won by a huge margin. One of the biggest selling of all the contest's songs, it was a worldwide No 1 and the UK's top single of 1976.

But despite two other chart-toppers, Angelo in 1977 and Figaro in 1978, and five thriving albums, the hits dried up in the early 1980s. And although their concerts continued to sell well for decades, Brotherhood of Man hung up their microphones in December 2022, while Martin Lee, lead vocalist on Save Your Kisses for Me, died in September 2024.

Lee Sheriden, now 81, Sandra Stevens, 80, and Nicky Stevens, 75, insist there are no plans to get back together half a century on from their triumph in the Netherlands.

“Retirement means retirement with us,” says Lee. “We decided that 20 October 2020 would be our last show and we haven't worked since. Even if we were all still available, we would not consider a special 50th anniversary concert, we would prefer people to remember us as we were.”

“Sandra, Nicky and I are in touch with each other all the time but we don't meet up. We will be celebrating on the special day but most likely not together as we live a long way apart.”

“For many reasons it was the best day of my life,” remembers Nicky. “It changed our lives tremendously. Success is what we all worked for and hoped for. Winning gave my mother a new lease of life after we had tragically lost my father in an accident. She became quite famous in her part of Wales giving interviews on radio and to the newspapers.”