Love Shine a Light
"Love Shine a Light" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Katrina and the Waves | ||||
from the album Walk on Water | ||||
B-side | "Spiderman" | |||
Released | 28 April 1997[1] | |||
Recorded | 1996[2] | |||
Studio | Remote Farm[2] | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Eternal | |||
Songwriter(s) | Kimberley Rew | |||
Producer(s) | Nocito | |||
Katrina and the Waves singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Katrina & the Waves | ||||
Language | English | |||
Composer(s) | Kimberley Rew | |||
Lyricist(s) | Kimberley Rew | |||
Conductor | ||||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 1st | |||
Final points | 227 | |||
Entry chronology | ||||
◄ "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" (1996) | ||||
"Where Are You?" (1998) ► |
"Love Shine a Light" is a song by British rock band
"Love Shine a Light" won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997 in
The song was the group's biggest success since their 1985 hit "Walking on Sunshine". It peaked within the top five of the charts in Austria, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In 2022, it was named the best UK Eurovision entry by The Daily Telegraph.[3]
Composition/Great British Song Contest
The song was composed by the group's guitarist and regular songwriter
It was also reported that Carmina Cooper, the manager of Katrina and the Waves and the wife of Alex Cooper, met up with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's breakfast presenter (and Head of Music) Dan Chisholm to play the track for him: Chisholm's response was to urge that the number be entered in the Great British Song Contest, and after affording "Love Shine a Light" its radio airplay debut Chisholm declared it "the song which will win this year's Eurovision Song Contest".
In a 2010 interview Leskanich would state that Great British Song Contest executive producer Jonathan King had in fact initiated Katrina and the Waves involvement in the Great British Contest as he had contacted Leskanich to ask if her group had a song which might be a suitable contender to vie to become the UK entrant at Eurovision 1997. Leskanich would paraphrase her response to King as being: "Yes, we have this song called 'Love Shine A Light' which we’ve never put on a record because it's too cheesy, too ABBA, too Eurovision, so it would be perfect for you."[5]
Leskanich stated in 2010 that the original plan was that an act other than Katrina and the Waves would be found to perform "Love Shine a Light" for Eurovision consideration but that
In a 2020 interview, Leskanich revealed that she was asked if she could "try and talk like an English person" as some people were not happy with the UK being represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by an American artist.[7]
One of eight songs aired in the Great British Song Contest semi-final broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 7 February 1997, "Love Shine a Light" was one of four songs advanced by televote to the Great British Song Contest final. The Great British Song Contest final was a live performance show broadcast by BBC TV on 9 March 1997, at the conclusion of which "Love Shine a Light" was announced as the 1997 UK entrant in Eurovision, the song having received 69,834 televotes – 11,138 more than the second-place finisher.[8]
Critical reception
British magazine Music Week rated "Love Shine a Light" three out of five, writing, "Though perfectly suited for Eurovision with its universal, everyone-come-together message, this anthemic-sounding song will require a decent competition performance to win over record buyers if it is to do anything chartwise."[9]
Eurovision 1997 final
Performance
On the night of the Eurovision 1997 final – held on 3 May 1997 in the
Leskanich would later state she'd supplied her own outfit for her performance on the Eurovision 1997 finale: "the boys [ie. the Waves] were getting beautiful suits made by William Hunt and my outfit was an afterthought. They came [in] with five different designers and every single outfit made me look like a clown or a chair cover...I ended up wearing this green blouse I’d been wearing all week that I’d bought in the Cambridge market for £3 [with] a [dark velvet] jacket that my sister had sent me, which was a Donna Karan second and it only had one shoulder pad. So while I was doing the song, I had to remember to lift my left shoulder slightly to even it out with the other".[5] She also wore black leather trousers and black high-heeled boots.
The Eurovision 1997 finale performance of "Love Shine a Light" was simply staged with Leskanich singing center stage fronting background vocalists
Scoring
In a pre-performance interview on the night of the Eurovision 1997 finale Leskanich had stated that Katrina and the Waves winning Eurovision 1997 was "more than a dream – it's probably going to be a reality. I mean we wouldn't come here unless we were intending to win...For Eurovision [success] you need a song with a universal message, lighters in the air, Coca-Cola, heartwarming positive 'all-unite' [message]...[Our] song has a universality about it that unites everyone and I think people are looking for that message in Eurovision...they want something uplifting and positive, and I think once in a while a song comes along that says Eurovision and I think that's what 'Love Shine a Light' says and I'm just lucky that I'm the one that gets to sing it."[12]
"Love Shine a Light" did indeed win Eurovision 1997 easily: with its first 12-point score being awarded by Austria the fourth reporting jury "Love Shine a Light" assumed permanent possession of first place on the scoreboard with its final vote tally an unprecedented 227 points besting the second-place finishing Eurovision 1997 entrant, the entrant for
By a more directly comparable measure, "Love Shine a Light" received an average of 9.458 points per country or 78.82% of total votes available, the third-highest in the history of the present voting system, behind only "
Katrina Leskanich commented that it was the second landslide of the week – the Labour Party led by Tony Blair had won the UK general election held two days earlier, on 1 May 1997.
Aftermath
In a 2009 interview Leskanich restated her opinion of "Love Shine a Light": "It was such a feel-good, lighters-in-the-air, cheesy number.", while adding: "Our song was quickly forgotten because we didn't have any sensational gimmick like
Later performances
In 2005, Leskanich co-hosted the
On 15 December 2019, Leskanich performed the song during Het Grote Songfestivalfeest, a Dutch live television concert programme starring artists of the Eurovision Song Contest as a prelude to the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 that had been scheduled to be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in May 2020. Following the 2020 contest's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contest organisers subsequently organised the replacement show Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light, whose title was inspired by the song.[13] The song itself was performed during the show as an orchestral rendition by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and again near the end of the show by all the artists set to take part in the cancelled contest (with the exception of Hooverphonic from Belgium), with Leskanich finishing.[14]
Track listings
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Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Norway (IFPI Norway)[43] | Gold | |
United Kingdom (BPI)[44] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Cover versions
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2024) |
- On the 1997 album Kikki Danielssons orkester, featuring Kikki Danielsson on lead vocals, covered the song with lyrics in Swedish by Christer Lundh and Mikael Wendt, as Låt ett ljus få brinna (translated "Let a candle burn").[45]
- Heidi Kyrö recorded the song in 1998, the Finnish version of the name "Päivänvaloon".[46]
- Garry Hagger recorded the song as "Liefde brengt licht" for his 2014 album release 12 points which comprised Flemish renderings of Eurovision winners.
- The Irish singer Lee Matthews released it as a charity single on 23 May 2014 with proceeds going to the Irish charity Join Our Boys Trust, a charity for those suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.[47] The single peaked at number 1 in Irish Country Charts and also charted at number 68 in the Irish Pop Charts.
- In 2020, all participants of the cancelled Eurovision Song Contest (except for Belgian representatives Hooverphonic) covered the song for the alternative show called Europe Shine a Light, named after the Eurovision classic.
References
- ^ "Reviews: Records Out on April 28, 1997". Music Week. 19 April 1997. p. 29.
- ^ a b c Love Shine a Light (UK CD1 liner notes). Katrina and the Waves. Eternal Records. 1997. WEA106CD1, 0630 18816 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- ^ "THE SAMARITANS SAVED MY CAREER; Katrina's charity lifeline. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
- ^ a b c d "Metro". 27 October 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ "Great British Song Contest 1997" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ Pingitore, Silvia (26 August 2020). "Remember 'Walking on Sunshine'? Interview with 1980s music legend Katrina and The Waves". the-shortlisted.co.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ^ "Do Re Mi hit flat note". Scotland on Sunday. The Scotsman Publications. 16 March 1997. p. 2.
- ^ "Reviews: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 19 April 1997. p. 29. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
- ^ "Love shine a light - info - Diggiloo Thrush". www.diggiloo.net.
- ^ "And the conductor is...|...a website dedicated to all conductors of the Eurovision Song Contest". Andtheconductoris.eu. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ "🇬🇧 Interview with Katrina Leskanich from United Kingdom (@ Eurovision in Dublin 1997)" – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Europe shined its light". eurovision.tv. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ^ Muldoon, Padraig (7 April 2020). "2020 Acts To Sing "Love Shine A Light" At Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ Love Shine a Light (UK CD2 & Australian CD single liner notes). Katrina and the Waves. Eternal Records. 1997. WEA106CD2, 0630 18817 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Love Shine a Light (UK cassette single sleeeve). Katrina and the Waves. Eternal Records. 1997. WEA106C, 0630 18818 4.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Love Shine a Light (European CD single liner notes). Katrina and the Waves. Eternal Records. 1997. 0630-19360-9.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light" (in French). Ultratop 50.
- ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 14, no. 22. 31 May 1997. p. 19. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves: Love Shine a Light" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- Dagblaðið Vísir(in Icelandic). 16 May 1997. p. 16. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Love Shine a Light". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "UK World Hits: Israel" (PDF). Music Week. 12 July 1997. p. 20. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
- ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 23, 1997" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Katrina And The Waves – Love Shine A Light" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light". VG-lista.
- ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light". Singles Top 100.
- ^ "Katrina and the Waves – Love Shine a Light". Swiss Singles Chart.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- ^ "Jahreshitparade Singles 1997" (in German). Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1997" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "1997 Year-End Sales Charts: Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 14, no. 52. 27 December 1997. p. 7. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1997". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- MegaCharts. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "Årslista Singlar, 1997" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ^ "Top 100 Singles 1997". Music Week. 17 January 1998. p. 27.
- ^ "Najlepsze single na UK Top 40-1997" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
- ^ "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
- ^ "British single certifications – Katrina & The Waves – Love Shine a Light". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
- ^ Information at Svensk mediedatabas
- ^ "Hakutulos kappaleelle Päivänvaloon". Aanitearkisto.fi. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ "Listen: Country Version of Love Shine A Light". wiwibloggs. 2 June 2014.