Sandie Shaw may have been the UK’s first ever Eurovision winner, but the lady really does not like the contest. She’s slammed it on multiple occasions in the past, and in this month’s Mojo Magazine she takes the opportunity to throw even more shade.

Shaw claims that her entry was only a PR exercise to redeem her image after an affair with a married man. Apparently, her reputation at the time was in such a state that the now disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris wanted to ban her participation. To make matters worse, she wasn’t even a fan of the event to begin with:

I thought the Eurovision Song Contest was crap, it wasn’t even on my or my friends’ radar. I’m a post-war baby and the whole idea of countries fighting again seemed ridiculous.

On her song she says:

When I got lumbered with singing “Puppet On A String” I knew there would be a lot of fans who wouldn’t want me doing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfeiCaRJgMY

Shaw’s biggest bugbear against the contest would seem to be the impact it had on her career subsequently.

Then they gave me a German Oom-pah Oom-pah band as accompaniment, which was the worst thing ever, but was the right thing to do to win Eurovision. I went to Vienna, I sang the song, I was the first to win the contest for the UK, I got to number one, although some of my recording territories in Europe didn’t put the song out as a single because they saw it as uncool. Did I get back the control I’d lost over my career after the success? No, it had an adverse effect. I launched the Sandie Shaw fashion label in 1968, it had been agreed on before Eurovision and I nearly lost the opportunity because the manufacturing company thought doing Eurovision was so uncool.

The self-confessed nudist recently came out of retirement to release “Riot Pictures”, exactly fifty years after her first single. Now it could be just us, but is it not a tad flippant to brand a career spanning half a century as damaged?

Shaw is just one of many former Eurovision personalities to hit out at the contest. Only yesterday, ex-UK commentator Terry Wogan labelled it a “freakshow” in the aftermath of Conchita Wurst’s 2014 victory. And in an exclusive wiwibloggs interview,2010 Danish representative Tomas N’Evergreen advised against participating in the competition.

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Bob
Bob
9 years ago

Who is she?

Just being honest
Just being honest
9 years ago

I did read somewhere that she didn’t like the song that was chosen for her at the national selection. Puppet On A String wasn’t exactly a serious entry so I understand how she felt but still very wrong of her to throw the contest under the bus when she is regarded as a legend for being the interpreter for UK’s 1st ever win. Rather than whine, she should’ve spoken up about Brits ill treatment towards past participants of the contest. No wonder her career is going no where now. Karma.

ESCaddict
ESCaddict
9 years ago

Sandi is trying to revive her career using ECS again! She is desperate.

Pastora Soler haha
Pastora Soler haha
9 years ago

stupid woman, you look very happy on youtube when you won -_-

Calvin
Calvin
9 years ago

My least favorite variation on this theme is something along the lines of “I hate Eurovision. I have artistic integrity/I’m cooler than Eurovision/I’m too good for it.” Does staying true to your craft despite being blamed for the downfall of multiple countries not count as artistic integrity/being cool?

Paul D
Paul D
9 years ago

Stupid hag

Mavision
Mavision
9 years ago

Rofl… @Robyn Gallagher.

Probably trying to get publicity for her new single too, something to do with riots. She hates war, and hates Eurovision because she hates the idea of war as a “war baby” and violence… Yet she can bring herself to sing a song about fighting and rioting. Shocker!

Roo
Roo
9 years ago

Sour old cow.

Daniel
Daniel
9 years ago

Why can’t she just shut up? She won! She entered so she could build her reputation again, and the Eurovision Song Contest gave it to her and pretty much saved her! And if we are forcing to shut people up, throw Donotan and Terry Wogan in there…

Fatima
Fatima
9 years ago

I am not sure she’s right that the contest was regarded as uncool in 1967. I am just about old enough to remember what a big deal it was that the UK won and everyone was singing that song in the summer. It sounds to me as if she’s edited events in her head to justify her relative lack of success.

Chris
9 years ago

It is not news that Sandie Shaw hated her song. But to come out so many years later to tell us again that she hated the song contest is plain mean. But by saying this, she will not have to appear at countless ESC fan festivals singing something she doesn’t enjoy and at least she is being true to herself. In truth, she is an adulterous whore person who slept around and then tried to cover this over by singing a sweet boppy song. When it didn’t work out for her, and the peoples still hated her, she blamed the… Read more »

LEAPerce
LEAPerce
9 years ago

Sorry “the uk involvement hate it” is what I meant to say.

LEAPerce
LEAPerce
9 years ago

Eurgh two articles
In a week saying the uk involvement with the contest…way to help our bad rep wiwibloggs, non-uk fans think we’re arseholes as it is 🙁

I know I whinged on the Terry Wogan article about it, but I hate seeing these things where they leave people adding this to the perception we hate eurovision and think we’re above it. Not all of us are like that; mostly just Terry Wogan, and clearly Sandie Shaw :/

D
D
9 years ago

I always thought “Puppet on a String” was crap and she should’ve never won.

Mavision
Mavision
9 years ago

Yes but what she isn’t remembering is that no-one would even remember her now if she wasn’t “the first UK contestant to win Eurovision”. She would be just another past-her-prime singer who dresses in clothes that are 30 years to young for her… Oh wait no, still is. My mistake!

The point is, she wouldn’t even be in the public eye now if it wasn’t for Eurovision.

Deniz@TurkNL
Deniz@TurkNL
9 years ago

Why do people have to be such fuckfaces 🙁

Just be nice for the people that DO love the contest.

ggmlr
9 years ago

To be honest, I would also say that Eurovision was also a crap years years ago before Raphael Gualazzi entered the competition haha. But now it’s totally different as so many great songs came along in recent years. I think Sandie should see in it another perspective. First, it’s another era. Secondly, please try not to see everything in superiority (as Brits generally do)

Bb
Bb
9 years ago

I’m disappointed at her attitude but not very surprised.

nade
nade
9 years ago

@hans. WTF? as a eurovision fan i wanna know what people think about the eurovision, and if sandie is being an idiot, i wanna know!!!! does her hatred of the show really make you less of a fan? didn’t think so…

racine
racine
9 years ago

no longer loving sandie shaw! boooo. how dare she smack her esc fans in the face!

Hans
Hans
9 years ago

Why would wiwibloggs post this kind of “news”? Why deliberately hurt the contest we all love?