New York, NY (Top40 Charts) James Newman has been confirmed as the artist representing the United Kingdom at The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with his song My Last Breath, which premiered on BBC
Radio 1 and BBC
Radio 2 this morning. The 65th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in May 2020.
James Newman is a hugely successful Brit Award-winning and Grammy-nominated songwriter.
James won a Brit for British Single of the Year for Waiting All Night, performed by
Rudimental and
Ella Eyre (full biography below). He has also written hit singles Lay It All On Me performed by
Rudimental ft Ed Sheeran, Blame performed by
Calvin Harris ft. John Newman, and Therapy, performed by
Armin Van Buuren and
James Newman.
James co-wrote My Last Breath with acclaimed British songwriters Ed Drewett, Iain
James and Adam Argyle who have collectively written songs for One Direction,
Little Mix, Olly Murs, Professor Green,
Leona Lewis,
Dua Lipa and
James Bay, with Iain also having co-written the winning Eurovision song for Azerbaijan, Running Scared performed by
Ell & Nikki in 2011.
James Newman says: "It's such an honour to be representing the United Kingdom this year at Eurovision - I still can't quite believe it! I'm also so proud to be taking My Last Breath as the song. I wrote it with some of my best friends, who are also amazingly talented songwriters in their own right. I knew it was 'the one' after first recording it, I just loved the simplicity and universal message of the song."
Kate Phillips, Controller of Entertainment Commissioning, says: "I'm absolutely thrilled to have
James on board to represent the UK at this year's contest. Eurovision is all about the song, and as an award-winning singer-songwriter with a proven track record I know
James will do all he can to get us on the left-hand side of the board - it's a very exciting year for the UK!"
Suzy Lamb, MD for BBC Studios, Entertainment and Music, says: "BBC Studios are delighted to be collaborating with BMG on this year's UK Eurovision entry. We are thrilled that
James has written and will be performing such a fantastic song.
James has a great track record of writing multi-platinum selling pop songs and we are excited he has taken on the challenge to hopefully put the UK on the Eurovision map again."
Alistair Norbury, President, Repertoire & Marketing UK for BMG, says: "We started with the sole aim of changing the perception of the contest by working with the very best UK songwriters.
James has consistently written international hit songs and was top of our list. Having co-written the song it was a natural fit for
James to deliver such an outstanding and powerful vocal, both on record and now in Rotterdam."
BBC Studios will once again produce the BBC's coverage of the biggest and most watched song competition in the world.
BMG has a proven track record in worldwide hits, publishing songs such as Someone You Love (Lewis Capaldi), Don't Call Me Up (Mabel), Shotgun (George Ezra) and I'll Be There (Jess Glynne), and also masterminding Kylie Minogue's recent number one album Golden. No strangers to Eurovision, BMG published the 2015 winning entry for Sweden, Heroes performed by
Mans Zelmerlow and signed Eurovision winner Netta following her win in 2018.
James Newman will also be interviewed by BBC Eurovision host Graham Norton for a special programme for BBC iPlayer to be released in March.
The Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday 16 May in Rotterdam broadcast live on BBC One, with commentary by Graham Norton; and live on BBC
Radio 2 with commentary from Ken Bruce. Ken Bruce will be also be previewing Eurovision by presenting his
Radio 2 show from 9.30am-12 noon live from Rotterdam on Friday 15 May, and Graham will present his Saturday morning chat show live from Rotterdam from 10am-1pm. The semi-finals will be held on Tuesday 12 &
Thursday 14 May, broadcast on BBC Four and hosted by Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal.
The BBC's Eurovision coverage is a BBC Studios production, commissioned by Kate Phillips, Controller of Entertainment and Rachel Ashdown, commissioning editor for the BBC. The executive producer and Head Of Delegation is Andrew Cartmell, and the series producer and Assistant Head of Delegation is Lee Smithurst. Suzy Lamb is the MD for BBC Studios Entertainment and
Music and Mel Balac is the Creative Director.
