Black Lace — Mary Ann

MAY 15 1979 · 12:00

Black Lace · "Mary Ann" · United Kingdom · 1979 Placement: 7th · Language: English · Composers: Ben Findon · Venue: International Convention Center · Host: Jerusalem, Israel · Type: performance innovation · Broadcast: color crt Black Lace — a Yorkshire band with sensible hair and dependable session-musician hands — arrive in Jerusalem in 1979 and perform 'Mary Ann,' a Ben Findon pop number with a polka-adjacent lilt and a chorus built for pub singalongs. The International Convention Center is a big, brutalist room and the staging is sparse; the four members of the band stand in a loose line and do the gentle stagework that UK Eurovision acts of the late seventies did. They sing it well. It finishes seventh of nineteen with seventy-three points on a night when Gali Atari and Milk and Honey win for the hosts with 'Hallelujah.' Five years later the same band, with a slightly different lineup, will record 'Agadoo.' Context 1979 was Israel's second consecutive win, hosted in Jerusalem. The UK's selection system was still producing groups like Black Lace: professional, Northern, signed through mainstream pop channels. Legacy 'Mary Ann' is now almost entirely overshadowed by what Black Lace became: the British novelty act responsible for 'Agadoo,' 'Superman' and 'Do the Conga,' songs that became wedding-disco furniture across the 1980s and 1990s. Mythology The before-picture. Black Lace as the serious Eurovision group that would, within five years, be remembered only for a song about pushing pineapples.