Paper Lace are a British pop/rock band, formed in Nottingham, who rose to success in 1974 and during that year had three UK Top 40 hit singles. In the United States they are considered a one-hit wonder, having a single US top 40 hit. There are two active bands featuring members from the hits period using the name Paper Lace or a derivation of it. History The core of the band originally formed in 1967 as Music Box, members being Cliff Fish, Dave Manders, Roy White and Phil Wright, the band performing covers by the likes of the Beach Boys. In 1969 they changed their name to Paper Lace. They worked their way through small club gigs, a season at Tiffany's, a Rochdale club, and in 1971 at The Birdcage in Ashton-Under-Lyne. Paper Lace released First Edition, the first of two studio albums in 1972 but, despite some TV appearances, mainstream success was not achieved until a 1973 victory on Opportunity Knocks, the ITV talent contest series. The band had originally auditioned for Opportunity Knocks in 1970, but were not called to appear until 1973. According to Phil Wright (then lead singer, now lead singer of Phil Wright's Original 70s Paper Lace) the band initially questioned appearing. However, with the show having weekly viewing figures of 7 million, they concluded that going on the programme was a "no brainer", and the band won Opportunity Knocks for five consecutive weeks. On the basis of Opportunity Knocks' performances, songwriters Mitch Murray and Peter Callander offered the band "Billy Don't Be a Hero", with the possibility of more songs if it took off. "Billy Don't Be a Hero" would spend three weeks at Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1974, with a total of 14 weeks on the chart. It was followed by another Murray/Callander composition, the story song "The Night Chicago Died" which reached Number 3 and spent 11 weeks on the charts. A third Murray/Callander-penned release, "The Black-Eyed Boys", took Paper Lace to number 11 in late 1974 and number 37 in Canada. With their subject matter assumed in America to be about the Vietnam war, it was logical that "Billy Don't Be a Hero" should become a hit in the United States. However, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods were the first to release the song in the United States, and Paper Lace had to be content with