Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston has spoken out on the bitter rift with her former bandmates.
By far one of the UK’s most successful Eurovision exports, Bucks Fizz earned the top spot in 1981 with their skirt-whipping routine.
At 19 at the time of their Eurovision success, Jay was the youngest member of the band, which also included Bobby G, Cheryl Baker and Mike Nolan.
The group were riding high on their success when tragedy struck in 1984, after a terrifying bus crash in Newcastle left Cheryl with a broken spine, and Mike in a three-day coma.
The following year Jay, 65, declared she was leaving the band, explaining that she didn’t ‘see a future’ as a group after the ‘awful’ crash. Her departure also came after her affair with producer Andy Hill, the husband of the group’s creator, Nichola Martin.
Speaking about the fallout of her decision to leave, Jay has admitted her friendships with her bandmates were left in ruins.
‘When I left the band, without going into too much detail, they made it very clear that they would ruin me,’ the singer told the Best: Suddenly Single podcast.
Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston has spoken out on the bitter rift with her former bandmates after she chose to leave the group in 1985
By far one of the UK’s most successful Eurovision exports, Bucks Fizz earned the top spot in 1981 with their skirt-whipping routine. Pictured; Mike Nolan, Bobby G, Cheryl Baker and Jay
‘You’ll never work again and we can do it. [We] made you and we can break you.’
She added that ‘it was a really, really grim time. But as a result of that, no one would sort of touch me. They thought I was trouble.’
‘Everything that could have been said was said. And I was ill, I was trying to recover from a coach crash and I had all the litigation.’
The group’s management company took Jay to court under the terms of her contract.
They dropped the case in the middle of the trial but an injunction was placed on her against commencing a solo career that took two years to settle and left Jay in financial ruin.
Jay ended up ‘on the dole and living in a bedsit’ after her legal battles forced her to sell her ‘beautiful’ home in west Kensington to pay her £400,000 legal costs.
She has now recalled ‘we had a record deal that was so bad, you know. Everyone thought we were millionaires and we weren’t at all.’
The star has previously admitted she had ‘hit rock bottom. I became depressed and abandoned show business.’
In 2004 she reunited with two of her bandmates Cheryl and Mike, the first time she had been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985
In 2001, the singer set up a performing arts school in her name, focusing her attention on teaching for some years.
But in 2009 she reunited with two of her bandmates Cheryl and Mike, the first time she had been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985. The trio toured the UK extensively, renamed from 2016 as The Fizz
Mike retired in November 2024 and the Fizz now consists of Jay, Cheryl and two new male singers Matthew Pateman and Nikk Mager.
