Paul Curtis (musician)

Paul Curtis is an English singer, songwriter, record producer from London, who holds the record for the most number of songs to make the finals of the A Song for Europe contest, the BBC's annual competition to choose the UK entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, competing with 22 separate songs.

Curtis also holds the record for having written the most number of UK entries at the Eurovision Song Contest. Four of his songs have won the UK selection contest, with his debut attempt, "Let Me Be The One" by The Shadows doing best at Eurovision, finishing in second place at the final in Stockholm, Sweden in 1975. His second song to go on to the Eurovision final, which he wrote in collaboration with Graham Sacher, "Love Games" by Belle & The Devotions, caused a storm of controversy when it was booed from the stage in Luxembourg. Curtis and his co-writer Sacher, were accused of plaigiarism, and the singers on stage were largely faking their performance. [O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3] In addition, Curtis has twice sung his own compositions in the UK national competition, "No Matter How I Try" in 1982 and as leader of 'Duke And The Aces' in 1980, performing "Love Is Alive".

Curtis was married to singer Ronnie France, who herself performed one of her husband's compositions in the 1978 UK final, "Lonely Nights". In 1984, Curtis wrote four of the eight finalists for the competition, having written three out of eight in 1982.

Curtis released his own version of "Different Worlds, Different People" on single in 1982, including the track on his self-named album that same year, along with "No Matter How I Try", both from the Song for Europe contest.

Some artists got their first break by recording Curtis compositions and performing them in the Eurovision heat. Hazell Dean and Sinitta both made their TV debuts in the A Song for Europe contest singing Curtis' songs. Stage star David Ian was part of two groups who sang Curtis songs, First Division in 1984 and Jump in 1986.

Of the four songs that Curtis wrote to win the UK competition, all made the UK Top 40 Music Week/BBC Singles chart. The Shadows' "Let Me Be The One" reached no.12 in 1975; In 1984 Belle & The Devotions' "Love Games" hit no.11; Emma (Booth) reached no.33 with "Give A Little Love Back To The World" in 1990; and Samantha Janus scored a no.30 hit in 1991 with "A Message To Your Heart". [www.chartstats.com]

In 1990, Curtis got together with songwriters Martin Lee of Brotherhood of Man and David Kane to compose a musical based on the "Butterfly Children" books by Angela and Pat Mills. The musical had its world premiere at the Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow, to open the 1990 Glasgow City of Culture and ran for a month and was performed by the Mitchell Theatre For Youth. Just three months later, the show transferred to the larger Kings Theatre in Glasgow and ran for two weeks. The show transferred in late 1992 to London's West End. "The Butterfly Children", essentially a children's show, featured many differing styles of music from rap to rock and country and western to the more familiar pop the group were known for. The show's run ended after a short season, and has not been performed since.

A Song For Europe entries

* 1975 "Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows (1st)
* 1976 "I Couldn't Live Without You For A Day" - Hazell Dean (=8th)
* 1977 "Just For You" - High Society (=6th)
* 1977 "Everybody Knows" - Beano (10th)
* 1978 "One Glance" - The Jarvis Brothers (=3rd)
* 1978 "Lonely Nights" - Ronnie France (9th)
* 1979 "Let It All Go" - Sal Davis (9th)
* 1980 "Love Is Alive" - Duke And The Aces (7th)
* 1982 "No Matter How I Try" - Paul Curtis (=4th)
* 1982 "Different Worlds, Different People" - Lovin' Feeling (=4th)
* 1982 "How Long?" - The Weltons (7th)
* 1983 "We've Got All The Time In The World" - Mirror (2nd)
* 1984 "Love Games" - Belle & The Devotions (1st)
* 1984 "Where The Action Is" - First Division (2nd)
* 1984 "Let It Shine" - Miriam Ann Lesley (5th)
* 1984 "Imagination" - Sinitta (3rd)
* 1985 "Let Me Love You One More Time" - Annabel (5th)
* 1985 "Dancing In The Night" - Keri Wells (2nd)
* 1986 "Don't Hang Up On Love" - Jump (2nd)
* 1990 "Give A Little Love Back To The World" - Emma (1st)
* 1991 "A Message To Your Heart" - Samantha Janus (1st)
* 1992 "This Is The Moment I've Been Waiting For" - Michael Ball (5th)

References