Mary Ann (Black Lace song)


"Mary Ann" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in English by Black Lace.
The song is about a man who is estranged from his girlfriend Mary Ann after her friend caught him with another woman, and is desperate to be reconciled with her.

At Eurovision

The song was performed 17th on the night, following Norway's Anita Skorgan with "Oliver" and preceding Austria's Christina Simon with "Heute in Jerusalem". Despite taking the lead after Denmark had awarded the song 10 points, at the close of voting, it had received 73 points, placing it seventh in a field of 19. Norway also awarded the song 10 points, the highest marks received.
It was succeeded as British representative at the 1980 Contest by Prima Donna with "Love Enough for Two".

Charts

The single reached No.42 in the UK charts, the lowest placing for a Eurovision entrant in several years, although Black Lace would later go on to greater chart success in the United Kingdom in the 1980s with singles such as "Agadoo".
Chart Peak
position
UK Singles Official Charts Company42

How it happened

After seeing a promotional video the band had made for agents in a bid to get more work around the country, songwriter Peter Morris approached Black Lace with a view to recording his song Mary Ann. He wanted the group to sound like chart-topping band Smokie.
As the song "required" a ‘throaty’ vocal line, it was decided that Alan would take the lead vocal. This was a controversial decision at the time: Alan had not sung lead before and Steve, the band's lead singer, felt that his position within the band was being threatened.
The band travelled to London to record a rough demo of the song at ATV's studio, which was then sent to EMI Records. EMI had booked Berwick Street Studios in Soho for a twelve-hour day with engineer Gwyn Mathias, to record songs by six artistes. Each artiste was allotted 2 hours to record and mix their record. Black Lace was one of the six acts. Amongst the others were The Swinging Blue Jeans. The record company liked the result, and within a few weeks the band returned to London and signed a recording contract. That second recording session was released by EMI as the single. it took just two hours to record their first official single Mary Ann. A day was booked at Berwick Street a couple of weeks later to record the B side -'Drivin'- written by Barton/Routh.
However, there was a problem: Smokie’s publishers, RAK Music, insisted that Mary Ann was a rip-off of Smokie’s song "Oh Carol" and threatened to take legal action. The song's publishing company, ATV Music, insisted that any similarity was purely coincidental, and since they showed that the notation of the two songs were different the case was dropped.
However, it was no secret in the Black Lace camp that everything possible was done to sound like Smokie, from the lead vocal to the harmonies, the guitars and even the bass line. "It was an intentional rip-off," said the band's Colin Routh.