winner Mike Nolan has expressed his sadness at having to to his time playing with .
The 69-year-old played his last gig with original Bucks Fizz members Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston on Wednesday.
The group has been on stage for more than 40 years either as their original manifestation as Bucks Fizz or as the spin off group.
Bucks Fizz, made up of Nolan, Baker, Aston and Bobby G, won Eurovision for the UK in Dublin in .
Their winning entry was the song Making Your Mind Up, which went viral (in a 1980s way) for the dance routine that saw the skirts of the two female members ripped off to reveal shorter skirts.
But their rise to the top didn’t end there, and they were able to accomplish the rare feat of turning Eurovision success into music industry success, eventually releasing three number one singles and one top 10 album in the UK.
After the concert at The Stag in Sevenoaks, Nolan told the PA news agency: ‘It was stressful – not horrible stressful, just a bit of a worry, because we wanted it all to be good.
‘And our drummer had an accident, and he couldn’t do the gig. He’s been with us for the past five, six, seven years, and a drummer… came in to take his place, and the guy was absolutely brilliant.’
Usually, the band opens performances with a mash-up of 1980s covers, but decided to only perform Bucks Fizz numbers in honour of their final time on stage together.
Nolan continued: ‘We did a couple of songs we hadn’t done for years, we couldn’t remember the lyrics for some of them and it just all fell into place.
‘It was just unbelievable, there was screams and everything like that. It’s good we had our ears in because we wouldn’t be able to keep in tune.
‘It was a great way to for it to end for me. I was sad, but very, very happy as well, it was brilliant.’
The Dublin-born singer has been a central member of the group since its inception, but is ready to move on to other projects.
He went on: ‘I am going to miss it, but I’m also not sorry.
‘When we had that time off in lockdown, all of a sudden – and it wasn’t just me – the whole world came to a standstill, and it was really weird.
‘I was doing a lot of walking around and we were off for a long, long time, and when we went back, I didn’t want to go back, I just didn’t want to go back.’
He went on to say that at a certain point he had just had enough, sharing that Cheryl was very upset by his departure but that Jay understood.
He has been replaced in The Fizz by Matthew Pateman, the former lead singer of 1990s boy band Bad Boys Inc, and Nikk Mager of Phixx, who appeared on ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals.
The news of Nolan’s replacements was originally revealed on Radio 2, sparking a wave of anticipation as the group embarks on a new era in their decades-spanning career.
After Nolan announced that he was leaving earlier this year, Cheryl and Jay put out an advert calling on members of the public to audition for the group with two new spots vacant.
On the poster titled Making Our Mind Up, the advert stated: ‘Legendary 80s pop group seeking two experienced male singers.’
It seems the band found what they were looking for in Pateman and Mager.
