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
Eurovision Song Contest 1978 record at the time. The winning entry was a love song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi (the title is an expansion of the Hebrew word "ani" אני, meaning "I"). This was Israel's first Eurovision win. The win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. According to author and political commentator John Kennedy O'Connor in his book "The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History", when Israel became the clear winners during the voting, most of the Arabic stations ended their transmission of the contest. Jordanian