The Most Successful British Eurovision Group – E V E R !!
Baker, Mike Nolan, and Jay Aston refused to work with fellow founding member Bobby G in a long-running dispute over the Eurovision-winning band’s name.
Fizz has turned down £1million to patch up their longstanding rift with former bandmate Bobby G for a TV
Eighties icons Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan, and Jay Aston were given the astonishing offer by a top telly production company.
But the band, who won the 1981 Eurovision with the massive hit Making Your Mind Up, bluntly rejected the mouth-watering deal.
They have endured a bitter legal battle with Bobby, real name Robert Gubby, over the band’s trademark name and no longer speak to him.
The group, who notched up three No.1 singles and eight Top 20 hits in the Eighties, will begin a new UK tour in September with another Bobby – Bobby McVay.
He too is a Eurovision veteran and was in trio Sweet Dreams who finished a respectable sixth in 1983 with I’m Never Giving Up.
Cheryl, 62, told the Sunday People: “We have so much more fun now on tour. I wish we’d had Bobby McVay right from the start. Bucks Fizz fans have fallen in love with him as much as we have and that’s just so nice.
“We may not be able to call ourselves Bucks Fizz anymore but I think our fans can see we are the real band. We could never be friends with Bobby G again.”
Jay, 55, said: “We had an offer from a very big promoter who had a track record of making high-profile TV shows.
“The idea was that we would try to build bridges again with Bobby and have negotiations on camera.
“The company said they’d offer us a million so I spoke to Mike and Cheryl but they were a definite ‘no’.”
Mike, 61, added: “We could never work with Bobby again.”
The band will tour for three months under the name “Cheryl, Mike and Jay, Formerly Of Bucks Fizz, With Bobby McVay”.
They have been forced to adopt the unwieldy title because 62-year-old Bobby G’s wife Heidi Manton, who joined the group in the early ’90s, is the legal owner of the Bucks Fizz name and refuses to part with it.
The band has revealed they are also facing grief from a disgruntled fan who has threatened them on social media.
Police have been contacted but, alarmingly, the man’s name has appeared on the group’s meet-and-greet list for the new tour.
The fan turned ugly after being refused an autograph at a private function in Blackpool last month.
Jay said: “We do a meet-and-greet after gigs and had already signed everything. Then he came back for a final signature and couldn’t get one.
“We’d been signing for an hour and a half, I had food poisoning and a temperature of 104. We were all exhausted.
“But overnight he turned nasty. He’s told people in our fan clubs, ‘When you find out what’s going to happen to Jay you won’t be laughing’. He’s threatened me and Mike and Cheryl. I’ve contacted someone who’s contacted the police.”
Mike added: “The worst thing is that we have seen the meet-and-greet list for our upcoming tour and he is on it. He has bought a ticket but we’re going to put our foot down.
“We have amazing fans. One has been following us since she was eight. We won’t let one person ruin things.”
- Cheryl, Mike, and Jay formerly of Bucks Fizz with Bobby McVay will travel the UK from September with The Make Believe Tour. For info see artistesint.com/tour-dates