Eurovision superfan: Aberdeen cabbie has racked up 45,000 miles and spent more than £50,000 on 'obsession'

Press and Journal

15-05-2025

It all started in Dublin in 1994 when Kevin Sherwin attended his first Eurovision Song Contest and was captivated by Riverdance.
Since then, the Aberdeen taxi driver has travelled no less than 45,000 miles – which is more than one and a half times round the world – listened to around 900 songs, and visited 20-plus capital cities and major conurbations from Copenhagen to Tallinn, Malmo to Vienna and Tel Aviv to Istanbul.
He is Scotland's Mr Eurovision, a man who has met and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Terry Wogan, Graham Norton and Pete Waterman and possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of one of the great annual festivals of kitsch on the entertainment calendar.
In which light, it's no surprise that I caught up with him in Basel this week, where the latest contest will be staged on Saturday night in front of a TV audience estimated at between 160 and 200 million people across Europe.
Even before he began his journeys to all the venues, Kevin was fascinated by the annual song festival and has plenty of stories to tell about his adventures.
He said: 'People ask me why I'm obsessed with Eurovision, but I can go back to the 1970s when I was passionate about music.
'There was no YouTube or MTV in those days, so the only chance to watch music on television was your weekly episode of Top of the Pops.
'So imagine how excited I was when the Eurovision Song Contest came on, with 20 songs from various countries, followed by the drama of the voting.
'I suppose it was a bit like It's a Knockout, but with music. I was hooked.'
Eurovision has never been just about the music, even if it can be as cheesy as a lorryload of brie and often resembles an explosion in a glitter factory.
But Kevin is in his element whenever he arrives at the contest and starts mingling with people in exotic attire which has to be seen, if not necessarily to be believed.
He said: 'On stage, at different times, I've seen turkeys, spacemen, pirates, men dressed in gorilla costumes, and one Austrian with cardboard animals.
'I've also seen Russian grannies, an Australian singer balancing on a 20-foot pole, hamster wheels and one man who wanted to appear naked with live wolves.
'He didn't get his wish!'
Kevin talks expertly about the likes of Sandie Shaw, Cliff Richard and Lulu representing Great Britain back in the 1960s, but he eventually grew frustrated with watching the event on TV. He needed to be there – in person.
He explained: 'My obsession was taking over and I had to try to get to a live Eurovision, but unless you knew the director general of the TV company that was staging the event, you had no chance of getting a ticket.
'But then, in 1994, I saw an advert offering Eurovision tickets for sale at £300 each, plus dinner beforehand and the after party. It was too good to miss and that was how I went to my first Eurovision.
'After that, the organisers decided to sell tickets to the general public, so having paid £300 in 1994, I only had to pay £50 for my 1995 ticket'.
In 2003, Kevin applied for press accreditation and that opened up a whole new perspective on Eurovision. He gained access to the rehearsals, press conferences and interviews with the artists. And his profile increased.
As he said: 'In 2010, I was asked by the head of delegation from Romania if I'd be interested in doing some reports for a newspaper – thankfully it's an English speaking paper which is great as my Romanian isn't that good.
'But then, I began meeting some of the famous figures connected with the contest. The late Terry Wogan was a true gentleman.
'I met him at a few Eurovisions and we even shared a drink in the business class lounge in Belgrade in 2008, which turned out to be the last time that he presented it.
'But then, he was replaced by Graham Norton in 2009 and I did manage to get a picture with Graham and it was fascinating to me how he brought his own style.
'I even met Lys Assia, the Swiss woman who had won the first-ever event all the way back in 1956 and she was very interesting company.'
The British entry has struggled to make any impact at recent contests – and there have even been claims that the Brexit vote was one of the factors behind 'nul' points becoming a regular occurrence.
But Kevin doesn't have any truck with that theory as he looks forward to Remember Monday performing their catchy song What the Hell Just Happened.
He said: 'The bottom line is that the UK has sent a lot of rubbish over the years – it's nothing to do with politics, just a poor choice of songs.
'Don't tell me that there's a granny in Moldova, for instance, watching her television and saying: 'I'm not voting for the UK because I don't like the Brexit fishing policy.
'Sadly the Eurovision polls don't rate our chances this weekend. Sweden and Austria are currently the favourites, but it could be too close to call with Albania, France and Malta very close behind.
'As is normal with Eurovision, there's always political controversy and we've already had five countries demanding Israel be disqualified from the contest.
'Over the years, it has changed from a one-night event to nine shows, so if you can't afford a grand final ticket at £300, you can always get a limited view semi-final family show ticket on Tuesday afternoon for £7.
'Being a canny Aberdonian, I picked the Tuesday and Thursday afternoon shows and splashed out on the grand final ticket.'