Mike Nolan

Michael Nolan (born 7 December 1954) is an Irish singer who is best known as one of the four original members of the British pop group, Bucks Fizz, who now perform as The Fizz. He was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, but brought up in the UK, where he still resides. As a member of Bucks Fizz, he won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and achieved 20 UK top 60 singles between 1981 and 1988, including three number one hits. He was a member of the group until 1996. Since 2004, he has been a member of the group The Fizz, along with other former Bucks Fizz members Cheryl Baker, Shelley Preston (from 2004 to 2009) and Jay Aston (since 2009).

After a series of dead end jobs, Mike Nolan began performing in the mid-1970s in pubs around London, playing the guitar and singing mostly old Irish ballads. He was also auditioning for a variety of groups as a vocalist.

It was in 1976 that he successfully auditioned for his first serious band. This group went under the name Brooks and were put together by Freya Miller, who went on to manage Shakin’ Stevens. The group was a four-piece boyband, consisting of Nolan, Ben Ellison (who replaced Ricky Gallahad), John Humphreys and Peter Pereira. They were designed to be a 1970s version of The Monkees. Originally the group also included Chris Hamill, who went on to become famous as Limahl. Despite multiple TV appearances, magazine interviews and several singles, the group never had a hit and eventually disbanded three years later. As Nolan later reasoned, the idea of the group was ‘dated’.

In 1980, Nolan was contacted by composer/manager Nichola Martin. She had a song entitled “Making Your Mind Up”, which had been composed by her boyfriend, Andy Hill, and was intending to enter it for the heats to the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest. The demo was recorded by Nolan and Martin and was accepted as one of the finalists. Martin then worked on finding other singers to build a group around him.

Nolan along with singers Bobby G, Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston became known as Bucks Fizz. In March, they won the 1981 A Song for Europe with “Making Your Mind Up”. On Saturday 4 April, they won the Eurovision final itself. The group were catapulted to fame overnight and the song made No.1 in several countries, including the UK.

Over the next few years, Bucks Fizz became one of the biggest pop groups in the UK with several hit singles and albums, including two more No.1 hits, “The Land of Make Believe” and “My Camera Never Lies”. Nolan became known as the male pin-up of the group and attracted many fans through his good looks. He also gained critical acclaim for his lead vocal on the top ten hit “Now Those Days Are Gone”.

While on tour on 11 December 1984, Bucks Fizz were involved in a coach crash. The tour bus they were travelling in crashed into a lorry and all four members were injured, but Nolan was most seriously affected when he fell into a coma and at one point was given the Last Rites. Nolan was featured on the front page of many of the tabloids over the next few days with headlines declaring him to be “on the brink of death”. After three days, he awoke and spent the next six months recuperating before returning to work with the group, although the effects of the crash still affect him today. …

Source: Article “Mike Nolan (singer)” from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.