UNITED KINGDOM 🇬🇧 Former UK representative Teddy Johnson, who represented the UK in 1959 as one half of a duo with the song “Sing little birdie” passed away this week at the age of 98. As was normal for the UK at the beginning of the last century, Teddy began his career at a very young age, taking to the stage at the age of 15, although he could not legally begin work until he was 18.
He worked mostly on cruise ships, where singing is still one of the highlights even today. His participation at Eurovision came unexpected, Teddy had formed a partnership with whom was to be his wife, Pearl Carr and both had been performing a programme for the BBC in the 1950s.
In an interview, Teddy claimed “I had never heard of Eurovision but my agent asked if I would be interested in taking part and I became enamoured with the whole concept”. Teddy and Pearl performed “Sing little birdie” at Cannes in 1959 where Eurovision took place. They had no expectations but just aimed to have a good performance however they ended up as runners-up. Both continued to perform until officially retiring in 1990 and the song always held a special memory for Teddy.
