UNITED KINGDOM – Winner of the UK’a talent show the X Factor in 2013, Sam Bailey, says she was offered a song to represent her country at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest. She says she passed up the opportunity and the song eventually went on to represent the UK but was rewritten for a male vocalist instead.
“Weirdly enough, years ago I was asked to do it. The guy that sang it was supposed to have been me – they had to change it to a male version and it didn’t do too well. I’m kind of glad I didn’t do it – some people say it’s a car crash, the end of your career; some people are like, ‘you should totally do it’ …So I was supposed to do it, I was supposed to go on the Wogan thing but I couldn’t do it. So a guy did it instead and sung the song and it got chosen, and it didn’t really get anywhere on the show”.
It is believed the song in question is “Hold On To Your Love”, performed by James Fox at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul. It came 16th in the final. Bailey declined to represent the UK in 2003 due to her wedding plans which clashed with the national final.