Eurovision duo hope for singular success

Can the Eurovision duo Jemini possibly go from nil points to number one overnight? That's exactly what the Liverpool band, with their naff song and off-key singing, were hoping for yesterday when their ridiculed entry, "Cry Baby" was released as a single.

Chris Cromby, 21 said: "We're going to keep our chins up - the single's out today and we're going to enjoy it," adding that he hoped that there was no such thing as bad publicity. He and his partner, Gemma Abbey, 20 defended their Eurovision performance, saying they had a problem with the sound monitors. "We've done acoustic versions on the Terry Wogan show and others - people who have seen those know we can sing live," Cromby said.

In an interview with the London radio station LBC, Abbey said that during the final rounds of voting on Saturday they secretly hoped they would receive no points and stand out, rather than finish with an indifferent score but still be last.

The duo received a measure of support from Sir Tim Rice, co-editor of the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles. "Their song was pretty average but it was no worse than many others on the show."

Nor is failure at Eurovision automatically a ticket to oblivion. "Andrew [Lloyd Webber] and I wrote a song for Eurovision in 1968 and it didn't even get through the English leg," Sir Tim said. "It became the King Herod song in Jesus Christ Superstar."