"Give a Little Love Back to the World", written and composed by Paul Curtis, was the 's entry at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1990 The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia, following the country's victory at the with the song " Rock Me" by Riva. It was the only time Yugoslavia ...

, performed by Emma. At the age of 15, Emma was the youngest-ever entrant on behalf of the United Kingdom at Eurovision.

Selection process

Emma won the right to perform at the contest, held in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

by winning the UK national final, ''

A Song for Europe A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', where she was the fourth singer to perform. Like in 1988 and 1989, the winner was picked via a nationwide telephone vote, and Emma emerged victorious, receiving nearly three times as many votes as the second-place finisher (clocking in at just under 100,000 supporters).

At Eurovision

In Zagreb, the song was performed seventh on the night, after 's

Céline Carzo Céline Carzo is a French singer. She represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990. A native of Nice, Céline Carzo was 17 years old when she performed " Quand je te rêve" ("When I Dream of You") as her entry in the Contest, which ...

with " Quand je te rêve", and before 's

Stjórnin Stjórnin is an Icelandic music duo composed of singers Grétar Örvarsson, born 11 July 1959, and Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir, born 24 July 1962. Together they represented Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 held in Zagreb. Their entry, " ...

with "

Eitt lag enn Iceland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 by Stjórnin with the song "Eitt lag enn". Stjórnin was the winner of the Icelandic national final, ''Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 1990'', organised by Icelandic broadcaster Ríkisútva ...

". At the end of judging that evening, "Give a Little Love Back to the World" took the sixth-place slot with 87 points. Belgium awarded the UK its only 12 points for the evening. One large theme of Eurovision 1990 in Zagreb was unity and peace, as the contest came mere months after the fall of communism in most of Eastern Europe. Emma's song strayed from this larger theme somewhat in that her song was a plea for

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

. Emma, dressed in red, was flanked by five backup singers: three women (in blue dresses) and two men (in alternating white and blue trousers, vests and shirts).

Charts

After Eurovision, the song placed at No. 33 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, in the best chart placing by a UK Eurovision act since 1984.

References

{{authority control 1990 in British music 1990 singles 1990 songs Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom Eurovision songs of 1990 Songs written by Paul Curtis (musician) Environmental songs