Scott Fitzgerald (born William McPhail; 28 April 1948) is a Scottish singer and musical actor, who experienced international music chart success in the 1970s and later represented the UK at the

1988 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following Johnny Logan's win at the with the song " Hold Me Now". Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ( ...

Career

Fitzgerald was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and began his career on the GTO label, releasing the singles "Judy Played The Jukebox" in 1974 and the title track to glam rock movie ''Never Too Young To Rock'' in 1975, where he featured alongside glam rock acts Mud,

The Glitter Band The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first f ...

and

The Rubettes The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of " Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor ...

"If I Had Words"

Fitzgerald's greatest success was with " If I Had Words", a duet with

Yvonne Keeley Yvonne Keeley (born Yvonne Paaij, 6 September 1952) is a Dutch pop music singer. She is the sister of Patricia Paay. She began her career as a session singer in the music industry in London. She was the girlfriend of Steve Harley of Steve Ha ...

and also featuring the St. Thomas More School Choir. The lyrics and arrangement were by

Jonathan Hodge Jonathan Philip Hodge (26 January 1941 – 7 July 2019) was a British composer who wrote more than 2,000 jingles for TV and radio, including the Shake n' Vac tune. Life and career Hodge was born in London in 1941. Jonathan wrote the scores ...

, a prolific writer of television jingles and movie themes, who also produced the single. The tune was taken from the main theme of the Maestoso from Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 in C minor (''Symphony with organ'') with an added reggae beat. It reached number 3 in 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 1978, and later went on to be a hit in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, selling more than one million copies. The song also featured in the score for the 1995 film ''

Babe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Maj ...

'', sung both by Farmer Hoggett (

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include '' Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), '' The Queen' ...

) and by a trio of mice (a sped-up version of Fitzgerald's original). It was also partially incorporated into the film's suite (instrumental). In 1999, the band

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporar ...

collaborated with the Vard Sisters to record the song.

Eurovision

In 1988, he was the first ever artist chosen by telephone vote to sing the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Go". The song was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, daughter of the entertainer

Sir Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series '' Sunday Nig ...

. Forsyth joined Fitzgerald on stage at the contest in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, alongside her husband Dominic Grant (also of Guys 'n' Dolls) and Des Dyer (formerly of Jigsaw), to perform backing vocals.

Ronnie Hazlehurst Ronald Hazlehurst (13 March 1928 – 1 October 2007) was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director. Hazlehurst composed the theme tunes for many well-known Briti ...

conducted the live orchestration. Fitzgerald came second in the contest, by one point, to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

's winning entry performed by

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

. "Go" reached number 52 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1988. Fitzgerald reunited with Yvonne Keeley in 1992 for the single "United We Stand", which was released on Red Bullet Records. In 2010 Fitzgerald and Keeley reunited for the final time in an all star version of ''If I had words'' for Charity in the Netherlands which featured Gordon, Patricia Paay,

Thomas Berge Thomas Berge, pseudonym of Chiel Thomas Ottink (born 25 January 1990) is a Dutch singer. Biography Thomas Berge was born in Enschede. He released his first single at the age of twelve. The album, ''Mijn Luchtballon'', sold 800,000 promotional ...

and many others.

Personal life

Fitzgerald is married to Shereen Fitzgerald and has three children, Liam Paul Patrick McPhail (to a previous relationship) Neeley Fitzgerald and the singer-songwriter

Ki Fitzgerald Ki Fitzgerald (born Kiley McPhail), also known as Azteck, is an English DJ, musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He has written/produced and vocalist on several top 10 singles and albums and was a founding member of the English pop ...

, an original member of the UK boy band Busted and hit songwriter to artists around the world. His son co-wrote '' Monsters'' for Saara Aalto's Finland 2018 entry into

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, adding to the family's Eurovision history.

References

External links

Eurovision fansite information on Scott Fitzgerald
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Scott 1948 births Living people Scottish singer-songwriters 20th-century Scottish male singers Musicians from Glasgow Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1988 British male singer-songwriters