Jessica Garlick - Whatever

Born in 1981 in Wales, Jessica Garlick was one of the final 10 in the first series of Pop Idol, where she was voted off on the second show just before Christmas in 2001. She had previously featured on "Star For A Night" and "My Kind Of People", and she caught the eye of a Martyn Bayley, a songwriter who had written a track for the UK Eurovision heats, and he asked her to sing on his track. Jessica then found herself in the readio heat of the Song For Europe competition just a week later with the ballad "Come Back", and made it through to the final, where she beat off stiff competition from Heartbeat's Tricia Penrose, singing a euro-pop ditty, and Alistair Griffin who would go on to compete in Fame Academy a few years later.

This meant that Jessica went on to fly the flag for Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tallin in May 2002, but she was drawn the "position of death" - 2nd, a position that Gina G, and most recently Javine have unluckily sang from. No song has ever won from that position, and the odds were stacked against Jessica, but she went on to come a respectable joint third with host nation Estonia after a great performance, with only Malta in 2nd and Latvia in 1st ahead of her. Jessica is the only top 10 appearance for the UK since 1998!

Since Eurovision, things have been quiet for Jessica, at least on the music side. She has appeared on various Eurovision TV shows including "The Weakest Link Eurovision Special", and has been one of the voting announcers in A Song For Europe. She has been recording material for the past few years, and time will tell if we get to hear any of it.

"Whatever" was featured on the "Come Back" single, which reached #13 in May 2002, which to date is her only chart appearance...