#Aletia Bourne

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2003 - Number 44 - Aletia Bourne - "Wanna Be the One"

There was something going on in 2003 between the UK and the Netherlands. First one of the finalists in the UK defected into the Nationaal Songfestival at the last minute, withdrawing from A Song from Europe. Then there's Aletia Bourne.

She's not a household name, or even a credited name, but she's part of UK music history as she was one of the main backing vocalists used by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and their production company. In the 1990s she even had a couple of singles under her own name, produced by Mike Stock and Matt Aitken.

Then in 2003, suddenly, she's in Heat 1 of the Dutch Nationaal Songfestival with what sounds like a British pop hit. Why not A Song for Europe Aletia? It feels like the music industry deserted the UKs Eurovision delegation en masse. I don't know if there was something going on behind the scenes, perhaps as a reaction to the treatment of Zee in 2002, but the pickings in the UK in 2003 are thin and UK artists are trying out for other countries with big national finals.

Wanna Be the One is a straight-forward, and catchy pop song. It's exactly the sort of thing that would have appeared in the UK charts at the time. Lightweight, happy, with staccato synth hits through the verse, an intriguing pre-chorus and a sing-a-along chorus. Aletia is a confident singer with good backing too. She does lack some energy on stage and her presence is a little flat - but the song is definitely something I think that could have easily won A Song for Europe but there we go.

It was good enough for the juries to place it 2nd in the heat - in a qualification position. However the televote weren't convinced. Maybe the full on UK themed intro put them of. Aletia came a clear 8th and last with the public and so she didn't make the final.

This was Aletia's only attempt at qualifying for Eurovision (but not the last time for various members of Stock, Aitken and Waterman...) and her musical career continued in a similar vein subsequently, working as a studio backing singer with some more attempts to work on material with Stock and Aitken. She also worked as a lounge singer around the north-west of England.