Fitzgerald's greatest success was with "If I Had Words", a duet with Yvonne Keeley and also featuring the St. Thomas More School Choir. The lyrics and arrangement were by Jonathan Hodge, a prolific writer of television jingles and movie themes, who also produced the single. The tune was taken from the main theme of the Maestoso from Saint-Saëns Symphony No.3 in C minor with an added reggae beat. It reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1978, and later went on to be a hit in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, selling more than one million copies. The song also featured in the score for the 1995 filmBabe, sung both by Farmer Hoggett and by a trio of mice. It was also partially incorporated into the film's suite. In 1999, the bandWestlife collaborated with the Vard Sisters to record the song.
Eurovision
In 1988, he was the first ever artist chosen by telephone vote to sing the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Go". The song was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, daughter of the entertainer Sir Bruce Forsyth. Forsyth joined Fitzgerald on stage at the contest in Dublin, alongside her husband Dominic Grant and Des Dyer, to perform backing vocals. Ronnie Hazlehurst conducted the live orchestration. Fitzgerald came second in the contest, by one point, to Switzerland's winning entry performed by Celine Dion. "Go" reached number 52 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1988. Fitzgerald reunited with Yvonne Keeley in 1992 for the single "United We Stand", which was released on Red Bullet Records. In 2010 Fitzgerald and Keeley reunited for the final time in an all star version of If I had words for Charity in the Netherlands which featured Gordon, Patricia Paay, Thomas Berge and many others.
Personal life
Fitzgerald is married to Shereen Fitzgerald and has three children, Liam Paul patrick Mcphail Neeley Fitzgerald and the singer-songwriter Ki Fitzgerald, an original member of the UK boy bandBusted and hit songwriter to artists around the world. His son co-wrote Monsters for Saara Aalto's Finland 2018 entry into Eurovision Song Contest, adding to the family's Eurovision history.