Bucks Fizz reunite 25 years on from Newcastle crash

Nov 7 2009 by Gordon Barr, The Journal

EIGHTIES pop group Bucks Fizz are planning a reunion show in Newcastle, 25 years on from a bus crash that almost killed them.

The group are to play at Newcastle City Hall to thank medical staff who treated them after a crash on the Great North Road in Newcastle in 1984.

The accident nearly killed band member Mike Nolan, but 25 years to the day after the horror smash, he will go back on stage with original group members Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston. Only Bobby Gee of the original line-up will not be appearing.

The crash saw Mike and Cheryl thrown through the windscreen, while Jay and Bobby, still on the coach, sustained injuries. Mike was taken to Newcastle General Hospital with serious head injuries after the crash.

He remained in a coma for six days and was on a life support machine. A blood clot was discovered on his brain and for a week the singer was close to death. Six days after the crash Nolan, then aged 29, opened his eyes and murmured: “I’m all right.”

Speaking about December’s concert, Cheryl Baker said: “I know it was a disastrous thing to happen, but we all survived it and I think that is something to celebrate.

“A couple of days ago Jay said ‘let’s make this happen’. That is how it has all come together and it’s all going ahead at the City Hall, the very last gig we did the night of the coach crash.

“It was the most awful time. We all thought that was the end of the band, the end of Mike. He was in such a terrible state, he was given last rites, as was one of our musicians Tom, who had just about every bone in his body broken.

“Mike is great now, they have changed his medication and he doesn’t have to have nearly as many drugs.

“After the accident he was a different person completely. I really missed the old Mike. He’s got his wit back and his quick thinking. He still suffers from memory loss and has tunnel vision – things the coach crash left him with permanently.”

Bucks Fizz will be performing all their greatest hits – the group had a string of smashes after winning Eurovision in 1981 with Making Your Mind Up.

Now called The Original Bucks Fizz, they will be offering free tickets to those working at Royal Victoria Infirmary and Newcastle General Hospital.

“I’d love to see some of the staff that were there when we were in the hospital,” said Cheryl.

The concert at Newcastle City Hall takes place on December 12. Tickets are on sale now.