Sweet Dreams (band)

Sweet Dreams was a British vocal trio composed of the teenagers Carrie Gray, Helen Kray and Bobby McVay. This teen trio represented the UK in Eurovision 1983 with the song "I'm Never Giving Up".

Overview

The band was put together specifically to perform "I'm Never Giving Up" in A Song for Europe 1983, the United Kingdom's preliminary round to the 1983 Eurovision song contest.^[1]

Sweet Dreams were often compared to the band Bucks Fizz,^[2] because they were both mixed-gender bands. Bucks Fizz was a band from the UK, which won the 1981 Eurovision song contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up." Bucks Fizz was the evident prototype for several acts entered in the 1982 UK edition of A Song for Europe—including "Lovin' Feeling," another A Song for Europe 1983 entrant. In 1982, "Lovin' Feeling" had featured McVay (in an otherwise female quartet) and had finished fourth with the song "Different Worlds, Different People."

Sweet Dreams was the first of the eight contestants to perform on the BBC-TV "A Song for Europe" broadcast live from the Television Theatre on 24 March 1983. Based on the tally from eight regional juries, "I'm Never Giving Up" was named the UK entrant for Eurovision 1983, receiving 109 points. In second place was "We've got all the Time in the World" by the band Mirror (also composed of two females and one male), which received 91 points.

On the night of Eurovision 1983, held at Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich, Sweet Dreams performed "I'm Never Giving Up" third in a field of twenty. They finished the contest in sixth place. In 2008, Carrie Gray (now known as Carrie Grant) stated "We came sixth, which actually at the time was really shameful, but these days that would be a serious result."^[3]

The sixth place finish of "I'm Never Giving Up" at Eurovision 1983 largely replicated the UK' standing at Eurovision 1982 when "One Step Further" by Bardo had finished seventh: however while "One Step Further" had afforded Bardo a #2 UK hit "I'm Never Giving Up" rose no higher than #21 UK - in spite of a "Top of the Pops" appearance.^[4]

Sweet Dreams released a follow-up single "17 Electric (Look Out!)" in August 1983. To downplay the group's Eurovision association, the single was credited to "Dreams".^[2] However, "17 Electric (Look Out!)" failed to chart, precipitating the dissolution of the Sweet Dreams/Dreams trio by the end of 1983. Carrie Grant commented on the failure of "I'm Never Giving Up" to become a major hit or to afford Sweet Dreams any lasting success, saying, "Eurovision was so popular [in the UK] when I was growing up. It started to go off the boil [in 1983 when] there was a backlash for the first time."^[3]

"I'm Never Giving Up" gave Sweet Dreams a Top 30 hit in Ireland (#25).

Members

Bobby McVay

Robert (Bobby) McVay (born Glasgow)^[5] was an original member of Sweet Dreams.^[6] McVay had previously fronted the group Lovin' Feeling in the 1982 "A Song for Europe" contest, singing "Different Worlds, Different People". The song placed fourth of the eight entries.^[7]

After his pop career, McVay became a local radio presenter. He worked at Radio Wyvern in Worcester before joining Red Dragon Radio in South Wales. At one point, McVay moved to sister station, Touch AM, later returning to Red Dragon. After over a decade at Red Dragon and Touch (including stints on the breakfast show, mid-mornings and afternoons), McVay left. He since co-anchored the morning show on rival South Wales regional station, Real Radio.

In April 2015, McVay joined founding Bucks Fizz members Jay Aston, Cheryl Baker, and Mike Nolan in a Bucks Fizz reunion tour, and has been a member since. According to Baker, McVay "was invited to join the [Bucks Fizz] a few years ago, but was unable to commit to joining them at that time" [indirect quote].^[8]

Carrie Gray

Carrie Gray married singer David Grant, and became a vocal coach. In this role she appeared in BBC Television's Fame Academy in 2002–2004, and has also participated in BBC Three Eurovision programmes.

References