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Northern Irish singer (born 1947)

Clodagh Rodgers (born 5 March 1947) is a retired singer from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit singles including "Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight", and "Jack in the Box".

Rodgers was born in Warrenpoint and began her professional singing career at 13 when she opened for Michael Holliday. Although none of her Decca or Columbia singles made the UK Singles Chart, Rodgers became a regular face on British television and appeared in the musical films Just for Fun (1963) and It's All Over Town (1964). "Come Back and Shake Me" was the first hit, reaching number 3 ( the song reached number 2 in Ireland ) and "Goodnight Midnight" followed later in the year reaching number 4 the two songs made her the best selling female singles artist of 1969. The same year, she won 'The Best Legs' in British showbusiness and insured her voice for one million pounds. Her next two single releases "Biljo" and "Everybody Go Home, The Party's Over" were both hits, "Biljo" being Rodgers third Top 20 hit. She also recorded "Scrapbook", penned by Billy Ritchie, which appeared on her 1969 album Midnight Clodagh. In 1970 she recorded "Give Me Just a Little More Line" with Young under the name Moonshine; though it achieved airplay and critical notice, it failed to chart. Rodgers picked this track as one of her eight favourite discs when she appeared as the featured castaway on the BBC's Desert Island Discs in March 1971. In May 1970 Rodgers appeared on the bill at the NME poll winner's concert, hosted by Tony Blackburn and Jimmy Savile. She was voted favourite female singer for 1969.

By this time Rodgers had become a big TV star and household name. In 1970 she was asked to represent the UK in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, the BBC were concerned over the reaction the UK entrant would get on the stage from the Irish public. As a Catholic Northern Irishwoman, she received death threats from the IRA who regarded her as a traitor, as a result of her appearing for the UK. Heralded by two separate front cover features on the BBC listing's magazine, the Radio Times, Rodgers appeared as the resident guest on It's Cliff Richard, a prime time variety show hosted by Cliff Richard on BBC1 from January 1971, performing one shortlisted song a week for six weeks, followed by a performance of all six on week seven and with a repeat of the six songs immediately after. Viewers would normally have been asked to send in postcard votes for their favourites, but because of a postal strike, regional juries decided the winner, with "Jack in the Box", written by John Worsley and David Myers, being named the winner the following week. For the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest, broadcasters were required to prepare a 'preview' video of the song for broadcast in all the participating Eurovision countries to help promote the songs before the big night. For the performance in Dublin, Rodgers wore a pink frilly top and spangled hot pants. She finished in fourth place, behind Monaco, Spain and Germany. After Eurovision, the single reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart, her third UK Top 10 success. It remains her most famous hit. The record was also successful all over Europe. At Eurovision, Rodgers' sister Lavinia joined The Breakaways as her four backing vocalists. Lavinia was almost part of a backing group called Three’s a Crowd. In 1982, Lavinia and brother Louis attempted to represent the UK in the contest with "Every Day of My Life" as part of the group Good Looks, but finished second to Bardo in the A Song For Europe contest.

Rodgers admitted to Ken Bruce during his eponymous BBC Radio 2 show in an interview broadcast on Friday, 25 May 2012, that the intention had been to release "Another Time, Another Place", which had placed fourth of the six entries in the Song for Europe contest as the follow up single to "Jack in the Box" and she began promoting it whilst in Dublin for the Eurovision final. However, Engelbert Humperdinck released a cover version before her track was available, denying her the opportunity to release it, but gaining himself a No.13 hit single. Despite only one more Top 30 chart single, "Lady Love Bug" in autumn 1971, Rodgers continued to be a major TV star in the UK, guesting on many shows (including playing herself in the BBC sitcom Whack O! ), and appearing successfully in the biggest cabaret clubs throughout the country. In addition she became the face of 'Bisto' in a series of television advertisements. On Irish television, The Clodagh Rodgers Show won an award at the Golden Rose TV festival in Montreux. She starred in many other shows, including Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1974, singing three songs, including her latest single "Get It Together". Rodgers also appeared in Seaside Special for BBC Television in 1975 and The Morecambe and Wise Show in 1970. She was a regular guest of The Two Ronnies. the forerunner of the later BBC1 series Seaside Special. Rodgers also made a mark with her impressions of fellow artists such as Cilla Black, often working with Mike Yarwood, Des O'Connor, Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse, and Dickie Henderson in variety. She was a regular performer in UK resorts' summer seasons, sharing the bill with Mike and Bernie Winters in Blackpool, Matt Monroe in Great Yarmouth among others. This success was mirrored on stage, where she starred in London's West End in her own show at the Talk of the Town (breaking Sammy Davis Jr.'s box office record), and in Cinderella at the London Palladium in 1971, which was also a success and ran for months. The Cinderella show (co starring Ronnie Corbett) then ran at the Manchester Palace in 1972 and at the Bristol Hippodrome in 1973. and with Jimmy Tarbuck in The Tarbuck Follies on 1 January 1973 to see in the new year. Having left RCA in early 1974 (after two well received albums It's Different Now and You are my Music, Rodgers then released a single for the Pye label, "Saturday Sunday" later that year. Numerous TV work supported all these three releases, including Top of the Pops. She signed to Polydor Records in 1976. She appeared in two hit musicals in the West End. These are Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Piccadilly and Albery Theatres co starring with Joe Brown, and in the lead role of Mrs Johnstone in the long running hit Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre. Rodgers most recent CD release was The Kenny Young Years released in 2012. It featured all Rodgers recorded highs with Young.

In the TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus, Episode 34: "The Cycling Tour", Mr. Gulliver (Terry Jones) receives a head trauma from a car accident and is convinced that he is Clodagh Rodgers. At the end of the episode, two large Terry Gilliam animated monsters, who had been eyeing the cyclist lead character Mr. Pither (Michael Palin) from behind a bush, wait until Pither is gone, jump out, and dance up and down to Rodgers' rendition of "Jack in the Box".