Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album (early Peel Sessions for the UK's BBC Radio 1 feature O'List's playing). Roxy Music's first hit "Virginia Plain" made the UK top 5 in 1972, and was followed up with several hit singles and albums, with Ferry as their lead vocalist and instrumentalist (he taught himself the piano in his mid-twenties) and Eno contributing synthesiser backing. After their second album, Brian Eno left Roxy Music, leaving Ferry its undisputed leader. Ferry started a parallel solo career in 1973, initially performing cover versions of old standards on albums such as "These
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 1972 by the BBC, but he was already committed to a concert on the date of the contest - 25 March 1972 - and was thus unavailable. As The New Seekers were booked to appear on his 1972 UK series, the BBC opted to offer them the opportunity. The group had just spent five weeks at No.2 with the song "Never Ending Song of Love" when they were confirmed as the UK entrants and their single "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" hit No.1 for four weeks at the same week the group began presenting the six short