After winning two of the first four Eurovision
Song Contests, Dutch fortunes have taken a downturn in recent
years, and the Netherlands last won the compeition over thirty
years ago with the victory of "Dinge Dong" in 1975. For
the last two years the Dutch entry has failed to make it out of the
semi-final and there have been rumours of he Netherlands leaving
the contest unless they see a change in their results.
This year Dutch broadcaster NOS decided to go
for an experienced singer and a much more low key Eurovision
selection. Edsilia Rombley represented the Netherlands in
Birmingham in 1998 and in December it was announced that she would
return to the contest in 2007. Instead of having an open
competition for potential songs, Edsilia would perform three songs
from her new album and the Dutch Final was held on February 11th at
the VARA TV Studios in Almere. Edsilia sang all three songs before
choosing the winner herself.
The songs were all in Dutch and after each one
was performed a panel of Eurovision experts gave their opinions on
it, in an effort to help Edsilia choose the best song for Helsinki.
In the end she chose the most uptempo song of the three:
"Nooit Meer Zonder Jou" (Never Again Without You).
Edsilia Rombley was born in Amsterdam on
February 13th 1978 to Arubian immigrant parents. Her musical career
began in 1995, with Gracia Gorré, Karima Lemghari and Susan Haps
in the group called Dignity. The name Dignity stands for Dignified
Individuals Giving New Insight To You. In 1996 the singles
"Talk To Me" and "Hold Me" from the compilation
album "No Sweat" entered the charts. Also in Edsilia won
the final of the Dutch Soundmixshow, the European version of
"Stars In Their Eyes" with an imitation of Oleta Adams'
song, "I Just Had To Hear Your Voice". In 1997, Edsilia's
international reputation was established thanks to the European
Soundmixshow, in which she sang the same song. That year she left
Dignity and released her first solo single "Baby It's
You".
In 1998, Edsilia competed in the Eurovision Song
Contest 1998 in Birmingham, where she gained 150 points and placed
4th with the song "Hemel En Aarde" (Heaven And Earth).
This was the best result the Netherlands has achieved since their
win in 1975. The song was written Fluitsma & Van Tijn and
reached #12 in the Dutch Top 40 and her debut English album was
released shortly after her Eurovision participation.
After many struggles, Edsilia released her
second album "Face To Face" in 2002. The album was
produced by Tjeerd Oosterhuis. This was preceded by the hit
"What Have You Done To Me", which was nominated in the
category for best R&B song at the TMF Awards. The same song
gained her a nomination in 2003, as well as an Edison Award
nomination for the Best Artist.
However despite high expectations the album did
not do well and in 2003, "Face to Face" was also released
in Germany and also gained minimal success. Edsilia stayed in
Germany to promote the album. From January 2004, she went on tour
with jazz pianist Michiel Borstlap, in which she played a
combination of soul and jazz. Besides her own repertoire she
covered songs from Anita Baker and Oleta Adams. In November Edsilia
joined singer Karin Bloemen during a benefit concert for
Bangladesh, organised by Memisa, a foundation which works for the
improvement of health care in developing countries. The singers
were accompanied by a five-man band and backing singers. They also
sang some songs written by Tjeerd Oosterhuis. Using one of the
songs from the benefit concert in Bangladesh, Tjeerd Oosterhuis
created a version for the benefit of the victims of the Tsunami
that occurred in the Indian Ocean. In January 2005, Edsilia was one
of the singers in the Artists For Asia song "Als Je Iets Kan
Doen" charity single.
In 2005, for the first time, Edsilia went on
tour in the Dutch theatres with the show 'Van Jongs Af Aan'. She
played a repertoire of covers, but also her own original material.
The tour was rather successful and in 2006, Edsilia participated in
the RTL 4 TV-programme "Dancing with the Stars",
with well-known Dutch and professional dancing teachers. In June
2006, Edsilia's single "Dan Ben Ik Van Jou" was released
as a taster for a new album with Dutch compositions. The number
became a hit in the Dutch Top 40. On September 1st 2006 Edsilia
married Tjeerd Oosterhuis in Amsterdam. and later that year her new
single "Eén Keer Meer Dan Jij" a ballad written by
Tjeerd Oosterhuis. Edsilia's vocals are present on the single
"Vlinder" by Brainpower, which was released in December
2006. Edislia has just released a new album with her
Eurovisioon entry and also completed a new tour in Dutch
theatres.
Composer, lyricist and producer Tjeerd
Oosterhuis was born in Amsterdam on 25th December 1971. He has been
heavily involved with music and song writing since he was a
teenager. He combined this with classical piano until he reached
the age of 18. He founded the Dutch band Total Touch at the end of
the 1980s with his younger sister Trijntje. Their music style was
very diverse, with strong soul, R&B, funk, pop and dance
influences. Tjeerd was the main person behind the scenes. He was
the songwriter and producer. He joined the band on stage as a
musical director, keyboard player and backing singer.
Total Touch enjoyed their big break in 1996 with
hits like "Touch Me There" and "Somebody Else's
Lover" and managed to sell almost a million CD's in a
relatively short space of time before deciding to call it a day at
the end of 2000. Brother and sister Oosterhuis decided to
individually continue with their respective musical careers. This
resulted in a great deal of songwriting and producing for Tjeerd.
In recent years he has worked with numerous Dutch artists,
including Re-play, Candy Dulfer, Mathilde Santing, Paul De Leeuw
and Edsilia ROMBLEY.
In addition to working for these Dutch artists,
Tjeerd also collaborates with foreign songwriters and composers and
he also became involved with the ‘Starmaker' television programme
in 2001, which is very popular in the Netherlands. Today Tjeerd
continues to work with his sister Trijntje as a
songwriter/producer. Tjeerd first worked with Edsilia Rombley
back in 2000 and their relationship has not only been successful
comercially but they have become more persinally invalved, marrying
last year.
The are two lyricists that have worked on this
years Dutch entry; Martin Gijzemijter was born in Amsterdam on 2nd
June 1979. He discovered his passion for writing at a very young
age, when he wrote his very first poems and stories. He has had a
successful career in music and among his biggest hits have
been songs for the Dutch football team.
Songwriter/producer/artist Maarten Ten Hove was
born in Zutphen on July 7th 1980. He became involved with
songwriting from a very young age. He has previously written songs
for the Dutch Eurovision selection, but this is his first time
making it to the contest.
After some initial hesitation, Edsilia decided
to sing the English version of the song in Helsinki, under the
title"On Top Of The World". While the song has done
relativly well in internet polls, with many fans having fond
memories of Edsilia from 1998, bookmakers are less convinced and
the Dutch entry is not among the favourites to qualify from the
semi-final.
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NETHERLANDS @ EUROVISION