Richard Peebles

Glaswegian singer Rikki, as Richard Peebles styled himself, won the BBC's "A Song for Europe" contest in 1987 with his own composition, "Only The light". Although he'd been writing and performing with the group Marmalade, at the time he was picked to represent the UK, he was a mini-cab driver in Glasgow. At the Eurovision Song Contest in Brussels the song fared poorly and was placed 13th out of the 22 entries. This was the worst result for a UK entry in the history of the contest, outstripping the 11th place achieved by Co-Co which had held the record to this point. It wouldn't be until 2000 that any British song fared worse, when Nicki French placed 16th. There was further disappointment for Rikki when his single of "Only The Light" failed to reach the UK singles chart Top 75. This is one of only three occasions this has happened. But he did release an album, similarly titled, in 1987, which also failed. He has not released any material since.

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before=Ryder
title=United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
years=1987
after= Scott Fitzgerald |