The Sex Pistols legend will participate with the band Public Image Ltd. in Ireland in response to the Melodi Grand Prix, with a song dedicated to his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer’s.
The 66-year-old reports it on the band’s website First page Monday.
When the Irish competition kicks off on February 3, Public Image Ltd. – also known as PIL – with the song “Hawaii”, the band’s first release in eight years.
In a press release, Lydon refers to the song as the most personal he has ever released. It is described as a love letter to his wife, Nora Forster (80).
The couple met in 1975 and married in 1979. Meanwhile, Lydon gained worldwide fame under the stage name Johnny Rotten and as lead singer of the Sex Pistols, the most famous of all British punk bands – and at the epoch, artistically far from the Eurovision circus as it was possible to come.
Lydon refers to “Hawaii” as a song reflecting on the time the couple spent together, and one of their happiest moments in particular, in Hawaii.
– It is dedicated to all those who go through difficult moments in life’s journey, with the person they care most about. It’s also a message of hope that love surpasses all, he says.
Lydon opened up about his wife’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2018.
He announced in 2020 that a PIL album was scrapped because he had to spend most of his time taking care of his wife.
Long streak of victories
Lydon started Public Image Ltd. shortly after the implosion of the Sex Pistols in 1978.
The band achieved both critical acclaim and occasional commercial success until disbanding in 1992.
In particular, the dark, dub-influenced album “Metal Box” (1979) remains an oft-praised work by PIL.
There, too, Lydon faced the difficult sides of life: the single “Death Disco” was a tribute to his mother, who died of cancer.
The rock legend breathed new life into PIL in 2009, and has been living it ever since.
“Hawaii” has a much milder expression than the music that made PIL famous in its day. The band became known as much more experimental than the Sex Pistols.
In Eurosong, as the Irish version of the Melodi Grand Prix is called, PIL competes against five other entries, by artists ADGY, Connolly, K Muni & ND, Leila Jane and Wild Youth.
Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times: in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996.
VGTV’s film and series program Blåkkbøster interviewed the actors of the new TV series about ‘Sex Pistols’:
