Local Brotherhood of Man star mourns cancellation of concerts

By Marilyn Barber

With bookings having been lined up this year for gigs in Belgium, Holland and Germany as well as this country, the 2020 diary for The Brotherhood of Man is now empty following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The band, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976 with Save Your Kisses for Me, is unique amongst those from the 1970s in that they can still boast the original line-up of Nicky Stevens, who lives in Corfe Mullen, Martin Lee, Lee Sheridan and Sandra Stevens – who isn’t related to Nicky.

“We had so many bookings for this year, and now of course they are all wiped out, but hopefully will be rescheduled for 2021. It is very sad. We still enjoy performing together, and we’re very close. It is sad to think that I probably won’t see the other members of the band until next year. I laugh with them like I laugh with no other people.”

Nicky has also starred in local pantomimes at the Tivoli and the Allendale Centre, but fears she won’t be doing so this year.

The band is incredibly popular at Warner Leisure Hotels and at Butlins.

“At Butlins you can get an audience of 2,000 to 3,000 people who all sing along to your hits,” she said.

As well as Save Your Kisses for Me, they include United We Stand, Where Are You Going to My Love, My Sweet Rosalie, Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In), Angelo, Figaro and Beautiful Lover.

“I had problems with lockdown at first, but realise you have to change your life otherwise you are just whiling away the hours until you go to bed,” Nicky said.

Nicky Stevens

As well as touring with the band, Nicky is vocal coach for Oakley based Footlight Performnce Academy, runs her own private singing lessons, and is choir mistress for Shroton Choir, which is in a village four miles north-west of Blandford.

However, Nicky is teaching pupils by Zoom which she describes as ‘a very different experience’.

Nicky, who grew up in Wales, started singing in a chapel in Carmarthen at the age of four, and subsequently her parents sent her for singing lessons. She joined Hywel Girls Choir and achieved high grades as a classical pianist.

Having performed in nightclubs, cabaret and summer seasons, Nicky joined The Brotherhood of Man four years before Martin and Lee wrote Save Your Kisses, which reached number one in the charts before the Eurovision Song Contest was even staged.

The song achieved 80.4 per cent of the votes and hit the number one slot in the charts in 33 countries.

The band appeared on Top of the Pops many times with some of the prominent names in 70s rock music.

Nicky is being pragmatic, and looking forward to getting back with the band next year. Bye- Bye Baby Bye- Bye is certainly not on the horizon of this enduringly popular band.