Ronnie Carroll
| Ronnie Carroll | |
|---|---|
Ronnie Carroll at the Eurovision Song Contest 1962
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Cleghorn |
| Born |
18 August 1934 Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K. |
| Died | 13 April 2015 (aged 80) London, England, U.K. |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
Ronnie Carroll (born Ronald Cleghorn; 18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer, entertainer, and political candidate.
Carroll was born Ronald Cleghorn in Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934, the son of a plumber. He scored his first hit in 1956 with "Walk Hand in Hand" on the Philips label.
He is the only singer to have represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest two years in succession. Having taken part in the 1960 UK Eurovision selection contest with the song "Girl with a Curl", he returned to win the selection and be Britain's entry in the 1962 contest, and with the song "Ring-a-Ding Girl" shared fourth place, the same placing he reached in 1963 with "Say Wonderful Things". This success was followed by two Top 10 hits during 1962 and 1963, but a lack of good material meant that he could not sustain a chart presence.
Carroll subsequently worked on cruise ships, including the QE2, with John Marcangelo who was the drummer with the Ronnie Carroll Orchestra. He played a pop musician named 'Ronnie' in the 1965 film Man in the Dark.
In 2005, he released a comeback album, Back on Song.
Carroll contested his home Hampstead and Highgate constituency seat in the 1997 UK General Election, and the Uxbridge by-election in July that year with the Rainbow Alliance. He stood in the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election as a candidate for Make Politicians History and received 29 votes, despite announcing that he was trying to enter the record books by receiving no votes.
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