Marcha (born Margaretha Hendrika Maria Groeneveld on 2 July 1956), also known as Marga Bult, is a Dutch singer and television presenter, who has been a member of the groups Tulip,

Babe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Major L ...

and Dutch Divas and is also known for her participation in the 1987

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

Tulip and Babe

In 1979, Marcha joined forces with former

Teach-In A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...

singer Marianne Wolsink to form the duo Tulip. They had only released two singles however when, in 1981, Marcha was chosen from over 200 candidates as the replacement for the departing lead singer Gemma van Eck in

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Babe, who had established themselves since 1979 as regular chart performers, with six top 30 singles in the Netherlands. Known as Marga Bult during this time, she recorded two albums and 14 singles with Babe, and toured extensively across Europe and Asia, before the group disbanded in June 1986.

Eurovision

In 1987, as a solo artist, Marcha was chosen by broadcaster NOS to be the Dutch singer for that year's Eurovision Song Contest, and in a selection of six songs, "

Rechtop in de wind The Netherlands was represented by Marcha (Marga Bult), with the song "Rechtop in de wind", at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Brussels on 9 April. The song was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on ...

" ("Upright in the Wind") was chosen by regional juries as the country's entry. At the 1987 Eurovision, held on 9 May in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, "Rechtop in de wind" finished in joint fifth place of 22 entries.

Later career

In the 1990s Marcha moved into television presenting, working on shows for several Dutch channels. In 2000, she joined fellow Dutch Eurovision veterans

Maggie MacNeal Maggie MacNeal (born Sjoukje Lucie van 't Spijker; 5 May 1950) is a Dutch singer. She was a member of Mouth & MacNeal, a pop duo from the Netherlands, who are best known for their million-selling recording of " How Do You Do" in 1972, which to ...

and

Sandra Reemer Barbara Alexandra "Sandra" Reemer (17 October 1950 – 6 June 2017) was an Indo-Dutch singer and television presenter. She represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions, tying with Corry Brokken for most app ...

to form the Dutch Divas, who quickly established themselves as a popular live act, particularly with the Dutch gay community. Reemer left the group in 2005 and was replaced briefly by another Eurovision performer,

Justine Pelmelay Justine Pelmelay (born 24 September 1958) is a Dutch singer who represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1989. Her entry, " Blijf zoals je bent" (Stay the way you are) was placed fifteenth out of the 22 participating songs. ...

, who remained with the group for a year; since then Marcha and MacNeal have continued as a duo.
In 2010 she still performs as a solo artist. Besides her performances she is also a regular presenter for the regional broadcasting company

RTV Oost The Dutch public broadcasting system ( nl, Nederlands publieke omroepbestel) is a group of organizations that are responsible for public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep ...

. In 1996, Marga announced the scores of the Dutch jury at the

staged in Oslo, Norway. In 2012, she recorded a new version of her Eurovision entry ''Rechtop in De Wind''Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

* *

1987 page at Dingadong.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcha 1956 births Living people Dutch women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1987 Musicians from Overijssel People from Lattrop