As if to emphasise the impact which Abba's victory made in 1974, in the two following years the contest was also won by groups singing happy modern pop songs.  In 1975, Netherlands came out on top with "Dinge Dong" performed by the Teach-In group , the song that some people see as Eurovision's most banal winner and in 1976 it was the turn of Brotherhood Of Man for the United Kingdom and "Save All Your Kisses For Me", a song which is still considered to be a Eurovision Song Contest classic. 

The 1976 contest was held on April 6th and it saw The Hague playing host for the first time. The Swedes were notable absentees following a number of internal protests at the cost of staging the competition in the previous year. The U.K. entry was the hot favourite, as "Save All Your Kisses For Me" was already number one in the British chart and had made it into the charts in several other European countries. Among the other entries, France, Netherlands and Germany were also seen as strong contenders, while the Irish song "When" sung by Red Hurley was considered to be one of the best ballads, along with the Italian entry.      

Brotherhood Of Man were first to perform on a very large and impressive stage, which used huge suspended moving parts which changed position for each song. Dressed in black, white and red, the foursome gave and extremely professional and well choreographed performance of the song, which tells the rather sentimental story of a father going to work and leaving his three year old child behind. There was no doubt that this performance justified the favourite's tag and set a high standard for the seventeen countries which followed. 

Next up were the Swiss trio of Peter, Sue and Mark who also gave a fine performance of a song with an unusual theme as "Djambo Djambo" was all about a clown. Germany's performers The Les Humphries Singers were a multinational group which included Irishman Derek Maher and were established stars in Europe. Their song "Sing Sang Song" was considered another frontrunner, despite only qualifying for the contest when the original German song was disqualified. 

Ireland was at number seven in the running order and Red Hurley's performance of "When" was one of the best of the evening, but it seemed slightly out of place in a contest dominated by up-tempo pop songs and gimmicks. The Dutch entry "The Party's Over" sung by Sandra Reemer got a great reception from the home crowd and with only three songs to go, it appeared that it was going to be the biggest threat to the U.K. Two of the last three songs were frantically fast pop songs performed in French. The Monegasque "Toi, La Musique Et Moi" sung by Mary Christy and the French song "Un, Deux, Trois" by Catherine Ferry were both very well sung and were sure to be in the reckoning when the juries voted.   

By 1976 the voting system of 12 for the best, 10 for second, 8 for for third etc., was in operation, but with one slight difference from the system we are familiar with today. The juries awarded points in the order of performance, rather than starting with one point and working up. The U.K. voted first and gave an early lead to the Swiss and put Ireland in 2nd place. Then then Swiss voted and returned the favour to the U.K. entry, but by awarding ten points to France, they put the French song in the lead. When the Irish jury voted, it awarded a surprisingly low 3 points to the U.K., despite the fact that "Save All Your Kisses For Me" was already in the Irish Top 10. The Irish jury gave top points to the Italy.

By the midway point in the voting, it was clear that it was a two horse race. France led with 82 points, five ahead of the U.K. with Monaco back in 3rd with 65. As the voting progressed, the U.K. pulled further ahead and ironically it was the second last jury from France that awarded the Brotherhood Of Man enough points to clinch victory. In the end "Save All Your Kisses For Me" scored a remarkable 164 points, a new record, gaining points from every jury. The French entry scored 147, which would have given it victory in almost any other year, with Monaco a distant 3rd on 93. Ireland finished a disappointing 9th, despite getting the top points from Italy. Most surprisingly, the highly rated German entry ended up 15th of 18 entries.

Within a couple of weeks of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, "Save All Your Kisses For Me" was number one in almost every European country. It remained at the top of the British charts for six weeks, and was the biggest selling single of the year. The song also reached the charts in both Australia and the USA. "Save All Your Kisses For Me" also received Ivor Novello awards for " Most Performed British Work", " Best Selling British Record" and " International Hit Of The Year". In all it sold over five million copies, making it the biggest selling Eurovision single of all time. Indeed the only Eurovision songs to have outsold it are "Waterloo", if you include album sales, and "Volare" if you include all the cover versions. 

The Brotherhood of Man story began in 1970 with songwriter and music publishing manager Tony Hiller. In 1970 Hiller and his songwriting partner Johnny Goodison decided that they needed a new group to perform some songs that they had written and they recruited a number of session singers under the name of Brotherhood Of Man.  In 1970 the group scored a huge international hit with the song "United We Stand", which was also covered by Elton John, Sonny & Cher, Anne Murray & Glen Campbell,  Peters & Lee and also as recently as 2002, by the Irish "Popstars" group Six. Both the group's name and the song had a big impact in the USA and a year after the Stonewall riots, "United We Stand" became the anthem of the rising gay liberation movement in America. Later in the same year, the follow-up single "Where Are You Going My Love" was also successful, but soon the the hits started to dry up and the group were soon dropped by their record label.

Hiller still retained the Brotherhood Of Man name to record sessions for BBC, but the line-up changed as the former members of the group went on to pursue other successful musical projects with groups like Blue Mink, White Plains and Edison Lighthouse. By 1972 all the original members had left and a new group began to take shape; Martin Lee and Lee Sheridan who had both been born in 1949 and who had already worked for some years as writers for Tony Hiller's publishing company were joined by Nicky Stevens (born in 1951). Nicky, originally classically trained, had gained experience on the cabaret circuit. The threesome's first single, "Rock Me Baby" from 1972, was withdrawn, when it became clear David Cassidy would release the song. In 1973 the first actual releases were two singles "Happy Ever After" and "Our World Of Love", but neither made any impact. After Sandra Stevens, born in 1949 but no relation to Nicky crossed the path of the threesome, Brotherhood Of Man as we know it today was complete. Before joining, Sandra had gained a lot of experience working for the Joe Loss and Ken MacKintosh big bands.

In 1974 the foursome signed to Pye Records and they released their first single, "When Love Catches Up On You", but again it failed to chart. However with their next single "Lady", the group scored a minor hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1975 Brotherhood Of Man had their first major European hit with the Barry Blue penned song "Kiss Me, Kiss Your Baby", which reached the Top 10 in many European countries but failed to hit in either the U.K. or Ireland. The group toured Europe and appeared on several television shows, establishing their name across the continent. 

Hiller, Lee and Sheridan continued to write songs together and in late 1975 entered their song "Save All Your Kisses For Me" for the following year's U.K. selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1976 the BBC broke with tradition and instead of choosing one singer or group to perform all their potential Eurovision songs, decided to have an open competition which featured twelve popular acts performing at the Royal Albert Hall. Despite being up against some well established singers like Frank Ifield and Tony Christie and soon to be stars like Hazel Dean, Brotherhood Of Man just about came out on top, beating future Eurovision entrants Co-Co  in a very close contest. Within weeks the single was released and immediately charged up the British charts, reaching number one the week before the Eurovision Song Contest.

Brotherhood of Man's follow-up single was a rather tame impersonation of their Eurovision winner. "My Sweet Rosalie" only made #30 in the U.K., and was a minor hit in Europe. The album "Love And Kisses From" just scarped in the Top 20. However in 1977, things started to get a lot better for the foursome, when the single "Oh Boy" (The Mood I'm In)" returned them to the Top 10. In the summer of the same year, Brotherhood Of Man scored their second number one when "Angelo" (which bore more than a passing resemblance to Abba's "Fernando") topped the chart. The group were big names all over Europe thanks to several live and television performances. In 1978 they scored their third number one with the bright sing-along pop song "Figaro" and they had their first Top 10 album. For a brief period it looked like they would rival their fellow Eurovision winners Abba in terms of chart success.

Then the lean years began for the group. After "Figaro", Brotherhood of Man had only some small hits with "Beautiful Lover", "Middle Of The Night" and "Papa Louis" (the latter was only a hit in the Netherlands). An album "Good Fortune" meant for 1980 was only released in Australia. Instead an album of covers was released, "Brotherhood of Man Sing 20 Number One Hits", and this surprisingly turned out to be one of their best-selling albums in the UK. Two cover LPs followed, but with much less success. On stage the group however still remained very popular and amongst others they toured with David Soul. However they finished their deal with PYE Records in 1979 and released two singles on Hiller's own label Dazzle Records, without success.

By 1982 the hits had stopped and Lee Sheriden decided to leave the group. His replacement was Barry Upton, a friend of Tony Hiller and following a new deal with EMI the new line-up recorded the album "BHM" and from the it emerged three singles, of which "Lightin Flash" was a minor hit. In 1983 the group had another shot at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "When The Kissing Stops", written for the group Rubic. Rumour has it that Brotherhood Of Man originally wanted to enter "A Song for Europe" themselves, but decided at the last minute not to take part in the competition. However they did release their own version of the song without success. Barry Upton continued with the Brotherhood of Man until 1983 when original members Martin Lee, Sandra and Nicky Stevens were not happy with the type of venues they were playing and they thought it best to retire. Upton went on to write and produce several hits for people like Sonia and Steps.

In 1985 Brotherhood of Man were invited to perform in the "Do You Remember" television programme, and the line-up which won the Eurovision Song Contest got back together. In the intervening period Nicky recorded some demos for a rock album that eventually didn't materialise and Lee earned a degree in music and produced for others. Martin and Sandra had almost formed a new group. Brotherhood Of Man re-formed on a permanent basis and for the last 20 years have been regulars on the British cabaret and gay circuit, notably in the holiday camps and hotels of Butlins and in London at the gay club G.A.Y., where other ex-Eurovision acts like Bucks Fizz, Baccara, Dana International and The New Seekers have also appeared. The group are also regulars at various countries national finals when broadcasters want to remember the heyday of the Eurovision Song Contest.

WHAT I SAID BEFORE THE SHOW : "Save All Your Kisses For Me" is without doubt one of the most successful songs to come out of the Eurovision Song Contest in the last fifty years. No Eurovision winner sold as much, or became as  big an international hit, before or since. Whether its a truly great pop song or a rather twee one-off novelty hit, is a good question. It is certainly a song of its time, and looks more than a little dated today, even if it still retains its naive charm from all those years ago. With the U.K. not showing or voting in the "Congratulations" show and the fact that the song is up against two other big hits from the 1970s in the competition, I just can't see this coming out on top. However seeing the original Eurovision line-up of Brotherhood Of Man, will be a treat for fans everywhere.      

WHAT I SAY AFTER THE SHOW : This song probably got the result it deserved. Being such a big hit of the time, meant that it deserved a place in the all-time Top 5 and seeing Brotherhood Of Man in Copenhagen was a real treat for fans, but "Save All Your Kisses For Me" is certainly a song of its time, rather than an long loved classic and that's why it tends to do so poorly on fan polls.