According to reliable sources the Cheeky girls who entered the UK charts with 'The Cheeky Song' are said to be one of the acts performing at ASFE 2003 for a chance to represent the UK at Eurovision 2003.

The Cheeky Girls auditioned for Popstars:the rivals hoping to be one of the final 10 girls to take part in a televised extravaganza where 5 of the girls got through to the band now known as Girls Aloud.They went on to get the Xmas number one with 'Sound of the Underground'. The Cheeky Girls didn't even get through the first auditions. In the same day the girls decided to try again with an extended version of 'The Cheeky Song' but again, did not get through. One of the judges on Popstars:the rivals decided to sign up the girls and give them a record contract. As a result they released 'The Cheeky Song' which shot up to number 2 in the UK charts, down to number 3, 4, then back up to number 2.

Louis Walsh, manager of 'Westlife' said "These girls would be great at eurovision", so they got put forward. To see what you think yourself of the cheeky girls click the link below to take you to their Popstars:the rivals audition.

Click here
The clip is at the bottom of the page titled 'A Cheeky Sequel'

The british band STEPS are said to be in talks with the BBC about representing the UK in Eurovision 2003.

The british newspaper, 'News of the World' wrote, "STEPS are talking of reforming to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. The band whose members H and Claire Richards formed a duo - have been approached by BBC bosses. A TV Executive said,"They would be the perfect band for the contest. They were massive in Europe and would have a very good chance.Were keeping our fingers crossed"

The BBC have recieved 700 entries for next years Song For Europe. This is more than the 500 entries recieved for this years contest in March. It is felt that more interest has been shown this year because of the brilliant performance by Jessica Garlick this year which put the UK finishing in joint 3rd place along with Estonia with 111 points.

From these 500 entries judging will take place over the next month and a 'Quarter Final' will be held possibly some time in January. At this stage the judging panel will include top songwriters, BBC entertainment staff and top music chiefs. These 500 songs will then be brought down to 20 which will be judged again and the final eight will be chosen. These 8 will be (as normal) played on Terry Wogan's morning show, 'Wake Up to Wogan' on BBC Radio 2 some time in late January, early February.

At the moment no significant changes will be made to the Nationl Final procedure for 2003.

Nicki French, who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 in Stockholm Sweden has entered two songs into the early stages of A.S.F.E 2003. Nicki says, 'I love Eurovision and want to try and do an awful lot better than 2 years ago in Stockhom, I can't live with myself, being placed 16th, I want to prove myself that I can do a lot better'.

Nicki also represented the UK in the Maltese International Song Festival as 1 of 9 international countries that took part, which was held on the 26th October.

Nicki French will also be a guest star at the convention of German fanclub ECG which will be held in Cologne on November 9th.