Louise Johanna "Anneke" Grönloh (; 7 June 1942 – 14 September 2018) was an Indonesian-born

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

singer. She had a successful career starting in 1959 that lasted throughout the 1960s, and scored a hit with " Brandend zand", one of the best-selling Dutch songs of all time.

Early life

Grönloh was born in Tondano,

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

, Dutch East Indies (present-day

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

), and spent her early years in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies in a Japanese

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

. Her father, an officer of the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. Th ...

(KNIL), had been interned before her birth. After the war, the family moved to the Netherlands, and Grönloh grew up in Eindhoven.

Career

During her time in secondary school, she met

Peter Koelewijn Peter Koelewijn (born 29 December 1940 in Eindhoven) is a founding father of Dutch-language rock and roll. Koelewijn is also a successful producer and songwriter for other Dutch artists. His most famous song is "Kom van dat dak af". Biography Pe ...

with whom she began performing at parties. In 1959, her career took off after she won a talent show. On 31 August 1964 she married Wim-Jaap van der Laan, a DJ at the Dutch radio station

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and broadcast offshore for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands to stimulate the sales ...

, and in 1965 began singing in the ''Sleeswijk Revue''. Throughout the 1960s she scored hits, especially with " Brandend zand" (''Burning sand''). At the height of her fame, Grönloh represented the Netherlands in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1964 The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Dansevise" by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. Organised by the Eu ...

with the song "

Jij bent mijn leven The Netherlands was represented by Anneke Grönloh, with the song "Jij bent mijn leven", at the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 21 March in Copenhagen. Grönloh was selected internally by broadcaster NTS and the song was chose ...

" (''You are my life''), finishing in tenth place, and by the end of the 1960s she had begun an international singing career. Besides popular music, Grönloh performed songs in the

kroncong Kroncong (pronounced "kronchong"; id, Keroncong, nl, Krontjong) is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong (the sound ' comes from this instrument, so the music is called ' ...

genre, such as "

Bengawan Solo Bengawan Solo may refer to: *Solo River, Bengawan Solo River, the longest river on the Indonesian island of Java and site of paleoanthropology early hominid remains *Bengawan Solo (song), "Bengawan Solo" (song), a 1940 Indonesian song about the Jav ...

", "Boeroeng Kakatua", and "Nina Bobo", as well as jazz songs, which according to her was her favourite musical genre. In 2000, Grönloh was named "Singer of the Century" in the Netherlands because of the record-breaking sales of "Brandend zand". In the same year, she was also a participant on the television program Big Brother VIPS. In 2006 she released ''Anneke and Friends'', a DVD of her theater tours. Later that year she was part of the theater tour "Purple 100", replacing

Corry Brokken Cornelia Maria "Corry" Brokken (3 December 1932 – 31 May 2016) was a Dutch singer, television presenter and jurist. In 1957, she won the second edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Net als toen", representing the Netherlands. ...

who could not perform due to illness. Grönloh had retired due to health problems, having played her last show on 26 August 2017. She died on 14 September 2018 in Arleuf,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, aged 76.

Discography

*"Asmara" (1960, in Indonesian) *"Flamenco Rock" *" Brandend zand" (1961) –

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

*" Paradiso" (1962) –

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

*" Soerabaja" (1963) *"Cimeroni" (1963) *"Oh Malaysia" (1963)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gronloh, Anneke 1942 births 2018 deaths People from Minahasa Regency Indo people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Dutch women singers Dutch people of Indonesian descent Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1964 Musicians from Eindhoven Philips Records artists Nationaal Songfestival contestants