Boom Bang a Bond

By Jamie McLoughlin on Nov 7, 08 08:38 AM

Well, who'd have thunk that Shiri Maimon would be named as Europe's third best singer and Leona Lewis and Dima not even getting a look in?

Anyway, today's blog bit isn't about the MTV Awards, it's about James Bond instead.

Tonight, there's a good chance I'll be off to Liverpool One's smashing new cinema to see Quantum of Solace (although I still haven't seen Casino Royale, so I believe I'm at a disadvantage).

Which got me thinking about Bond themes. And then it got me thinking about that most rare of musical acts - the ones who have managed the Bond theme/Eurovision entry double.

One of them is Matt Monro, Britain's answer to Frank Sinatra, who got his tonsils around the opening tune to From Russia With Love in 1963, followed up by 1964's UK Eurovision entry I Love the Little Things.

Sadly, the 1964 Contest, which came from Copenhagen, is one of only two (the inaugural 1956 Contest is the other) Eurovisions which no longer exist in the TV archives. We can't bring you a snippet of Matt performing the song - written by Tony 'Crossroads/Neighbours/Grandstand' Hatch - but we can tell you his 17 points made him a very, very, *very* distant second to Italy with their scoreboard-busting tally of 49.

James Bond beat Scaramanga in the duelling climax of 1974's The Man With the Golden Gun, but Lulu could only tie with three other nations at the nail-biting finale of the 1969 Eurovision voting to share the title.

This clearly gave her a taste for adrenaline-fuelled musical action, as the Scottish minx gave it some welly for the theme song of Roger Moore's second assignment as MI6's finest.

Bond experts seem to agree -as does the composer John Barry - that Lulu's contribution to the Bond theme canon is one of the weakest, but we'll let you judge for yourself.

Her name is Lu. Lulu.

NOTE: The only other tenuous Eurovision/Bond theme link we can think of is Morten Harket, lead singer of Norwegain band A-Ha. The band contributed the opening song to 1987's The Living Daylights, while Morten co-hosted the 1996 Contest from Oslo. Sad? Us?