Love Shine a Light branch of the Samaritans. In a 1997 interview Katrina and the Waves lead vocalist Katrina Leskanich indicated that it was members of the Samaritans who opined that "Love Shine a Light" "was the type of song which would win the Eurovision Song Contest and [so] at the last minute, [Katrina and the Waves] submitted the song with our £250 [entrance fee]" for consideration to vie in the "", the national preselection round for the UK in Eurovision 1997. It was also reported that Carmina Cooper, the manager of Katrina and the Waves and the wife of Alex Cooper, met up
Love Shine a Light won the UK general election held two days earlier, on 1 May 1997. In a 2009 interview Leskanich restated her opinion of "Love Shine a Light": "it was such a feel-good, lighters-in-the-air, cheesy number. It would have been embarrassing for it not to win. It had 'I am a winner' written all over it", while adding: "Our song was quickly forgotten because we didn’t have any sensational gimmick like Bucks Fizz" and describing Eurovision as "a joke...People who take it seriously are the kind of people who get into Miss Universe. How can you have a contest about what's the