Jemini
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| Jemini | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Tricity |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Genres | Pop, Dance |
| Years active | 1995–2004 |
| Labels | Integral Records (2003) |
| Past members | Chris Cromby Gemma Abbey |
Jemini were a British pop group from Liverpool, best known for scoring "nul points" and finishing in last place with their out-of-tune performance of "Cry Baby" at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia.[1]
Contents
Early career
Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey[2] (born 1982) met in 1995 at Liverpool's Starlight Stage School and toured Liverpool's pubs and clubs with the academy's kids' roadshow. At 16, after leaving college, they formed Tricity, named after the brand of electrical appliances. They changed their name to Jemini ("Gem-and-I") at the age of 19. They spent the next two and a half years touring pubs and clubs in the UK performing Stevie Wonder, Randy Crawford, Motown covers and ABBA medleys, as well as their own compositions. Abbey stated she has loved Eurovision since childhood and count previous Eurovision entrants such as Sonia, Precious and Dana International amongst her favourites.
"Cry Baby"
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Jemini and the song "Cry Baby" were selected to take part in Eurovision by a public phone poll in the BBC's A Song for Europe competition. Their performance at Eurovision in Riga in May 2003 was criticised for being off-key,[citation needed] and later earned the United Kingdom "nul points".
Failure and break-up
The Eurovision failure prompted both mirth and consternation in the British media. Jemini admitted that their performance was off-key, and claimed they were unable to hear the backing track due to a technical fault. Cromby claimed that Terry Wogan had warned them before the contest that they would not get any points due to a blacklash against the United Kingdom's role in the Iraq War, which began two months earlier.[3] Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History that with a record field of 26 entries, this made the UK's failure the most spectacular in the history of the contest (a record which would remain until the 2015 competition where Germany and Austria both scored 0 points in a field of 27 entrants).[4] Due to their failure at Eurovision, they were immediately dropped by their record label (Integral Records UK), and as a consequence of this, their album was never released. "Cry Baby" entered the UK Singles Chart at #15, but spent only three weeks in the chart.[2] They split up as a duo.
In 2013, the duo reunited for a special interview about their performance in a two-hour-long BBC Three special "How To Win Eurovision". The special aired on 11 May, 2013.
In 2014, the duo reunited once again to take part in a Eurovision special of Pointless Celebrities and have subsequently appeared in several television interviews about Eurovision.
Discography
Unreleased album
- 'Love Is Blind' (2003) (release cancelled)
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK[2] | IE | ||||
| 2003 | "Cry Baby" | 15 | 73 | ||
| "Try To Love"* | - | - | |||
*Cancelled
References
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- ↑ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 |
Succeeded by James Fox with "Hold On to Our Love" |
