The Brotherhood of Man stands among Britain’s most enduringly popular pop acts, their extended history unfolding across two distinct lineups while a run of memorable chart singles sustained them through much of their initial decade and a victory at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest. Record producer and songwriter Tony Hiller assembled the first incarnation in 1969 expressly to cut a composition he had co-written with vocalist John Goodison, “Love One Another.” The lineup featured Goodison alongside fellow songwriter Roger Greenaway—already recognized for his partnership with Roger Cook—plus session singers Tony Burrows, Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie, the last two already known as the duo Sue & Sunny.
Although “Love One Another” failed to chart, Deram, Decca Records’ imprint, retained the act; early the following year the follow-up “United We Stand” reached the charts in both the U.K. and U.S. Another release, “Where Are You Going to My Love,” entered the U.K. Top 30 in July and has since been recorded by Olivia Newton-John, the Miracles and the Osmonds. Burrows then left and was succeeded by American vocalist Hal Atkinson, whose first single with the group, “Reach Out Your Hand,” extended their American chart presence.
Greenaway departed next, replaced by Russell Stone, yet when subsequent releases stalled the band was dropped by Deram. The remaining members gradually dispersed, though Hiller preserved the name for assorted television work; a fresh configuration—Martin Lee, Lee Sheridan, Sandra Stevens and Nicky Stevens—eventually emerged from the ranks of session vocalists.
Despite suggestions that they resembled a lower-budget ABBA, who themselves had achieved prominence that same year, Brotherhood of Man re-entered the studio in 1974 for a new single. “When Love Catches Up on You” missed the charts, but “Lady” succeeded in Holland and Belgium; over the ensuing years the quartet maintained a steady schedule of European dates, adding another hit with Barry Blue’s “Kiss Me Kiss Me Baby.” Eurovision ultimately restored their domestic visibility. Written by Hiller together with Lee and Sheridan, “Save Your Kisses for Me” won the contest outright, reached number one in twenty-seven territories including Britain, and later received the 1976 Ivor Novello awards for Most Performed British Work, Best Selling British Record and International Hit of the Year.
While the album Love and Kisses from the Brotherhood of Man reached the Top 20, “My Sweet Rosalie,” closely modeled on its predecessor, returned the quartet to the singles chart that summer yet peaked only at number 30. Early the next year “Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In)” secured a firmer grip on the U.K. listings, and over the following twenty-four months four additional successes followed: the consecutive number ones “Angelo” and “Figaro,” the Top 20 entry “Beautiful Lover,” and, late in 1978, “Middle of the Night.”
The group transferred to Hiller’s Dazzle imprint in 1979, but new hits remained scarce until they moved to EMI in 1982, the same year Sheridan exited. With Barry Upton now aboard, Brotherhood of Man reappeared on the chart that summer with “Lightning Flash.” By then the act had settled into the cabaret circuit; the following year Lee, Sandra Stevens and Nicky Stevens all stepped away. The quartet had, coincidentally, just been shortlisted to represent the U.K. at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest when the lineup change occurred. Their entry, “When the Kissing Stops,” was ultimately performed by Rubic yet failed to advance from the national final. Brotherhood of Man soon regrouped with Sheridan, though without Hiller, and remain active; they performed at Eurovision’s fiftieth-anniversary concert in Copenhagen in 2005, where “Save Your Kisses for Me” was voted the most popular U.K. entry in the contest’s history.
