Marion Henriëtte Louise Molly (born 29 December 1933), known professionally as Milly Scott, is a Dutch singer and actress of

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se origin, best known for her participation in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1966 The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg (city), Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" ...

. She is recognised as the first

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

singer to take part in the

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 ...

Early life

Scott was born in

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

, the main base of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

, where her father was stationed as a marine. Both her parents were immigrants from the Dutch colony of Surinam, while her paternal grandfather was originally from

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

. As the first black family in Den Helder and the only black child in

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, she often experienced

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

while growing up. In the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the ship HNLMS ''Johan Maurits van Nassau'' was bombed, severely wounding Scott's father, after which the family moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Soon after, her father was summoned by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and taken to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. The

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

later informed the family that he had died there. Having learned to play the piano during the war, Scott started giving performances to financially support her mother after her father's death. At the age of 14, she began singing in amateur bands and was eventually given a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

to study at the conservatory in Amsterdam. However, she dropped out due to the intense

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

and

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

she experienced during her studies.

Career

Early career

In 1953, at the age of 19, Scott was asked by Dutch comedian

Toon Hermans Antoine Gerard Theodore "Toon" Hermans (17 December 1916 – 22 April 2000) was a noted Dutch comedian, singer and writer. Toon Hermans was born in Sittard. He began performing in the 1930s, achieving local, regional and, eventually, natio ...

to perform in one of his shows. According to Hermans, the name Milly suited her better than her birth name Marion. Following her mother's advice not to use her real surname, she then came up with the stage name Milly Scott. After performing in front of a big audience for the first time, she quickly built up a career as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer, with

Lou van Rees Lou may refer to: __NOTOC__ Personal name * Lou (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lou (German singer) * Lou (French singer) * Lou (surname 娄), the 229th most common surname in China * Lou (surname 楼), the 269th most co ...

as her

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. Hist ...

. Working as a singer, she lived in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

since 1954, and later moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

where she stayed for five years. In

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, she shared the stage with world-famous artists, such as

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

. Furthermore, she maintained a close friendship with Swedish-Dutch singer

Cornelis Vreeswijk Cornelis Vreeswijk (; ; 8 August 1937 – 12 November 1987) was a Dutch-born Swedish singer-songwriter, poet and actor. He emigrated to Sweden with his parents in 1949 at the age of twelve. He was educated as a social worker and hoped to become ...

, whom she regularly visited at his home in

Lidingö Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...

Eurovision Song Contest

Scott owes her successes in the Netherlands to the influential entertainment journalist

Henk van der Meijden Henk van der Meijden (born 26 June 1937, in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch journalist and producer of theater and circus acts. Known as the "godfather" of Dutch gossip journalism, he founded a weekly gossip magazine, Privé, and edits the goss ...

, who had found out about her career in Sweden and wrote an article about her in ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...

''. This led to numerous appearances on national television and she was even given her own television show in 1965, named ''Scott in de roos'' (after the phrase , meaning "

bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...

"). In 1966, Scott was asked to participate in the ''

Nationaal Songfestival (; ) was an annual music competition, which was originally organised by the Dutch public broadcaster (NTS), and later by the (NOS) and (TROS). It was staged almost every year between 1956 and 2012 to determine the country's entry for the Eu ...

'', the Dutch national selection for the

. She went on to win the national final with the song "

Fernando en Filippo The Netherlands was represented by Milly Scott, with the song "Fernando en Filippo", at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 5 March in Luxembourg City. Five acts participated in the Dutch preselection, which consisted of five qua ...

", written by

Gerrit den Braber Gerrit den Braber (23 March 1929 – 3 May 1997) was born in Rotterdam and was a Dutch songwriter and lyricist. Braber took music lessons in Rotterdam and Hilversum. He then went into Hospital Radio and joined the Dutch radio and television compa ...

and composed by Kees de Bruyn. This gave her the right to represent the Netherlands in the eleventh edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

. Her entry received a total of two points from the international juries, placing fifteenth out of eighteen songs. Although "Fernando en Filippo" was something of a

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

(and was also performed as such) at a time when

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s dominated in the competition, Scott would later claim that her disappointing result was attributable, at least in part, to racism on the part of the voting jurors.

After Eurovision

Although Scott never produced any hit records, her jazz-based singing career brought her to Germany, Sweden and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in later years. She also branched out into acting and appeared in many theater and television shows, her best-known role being in the

RTL 4 RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-air, free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment chan ...

drama series '' Vrouwenvleugel'' (1993–95) in which she played Baby Miller, a prisoner trying to come to terms with her racial identity.

Discography

Extended plays

*1966 – "

Singles

*1958 – "Melodie d'amour" / "Africa" *1963 – "Up a Lazy River" / "Crawdad Song" (with

The Beale Street Jazzband ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

) *1963 – "Je hebt m'n leven stukgemaakt" / "Ik kus jouw ring" *1964 – "Kom huil dan" / "Ik moet verder" *1964 – "Zonder jou ben ik niets" / "Nee..." *1964 – " Hello Dolly" / "Hush-a-by Ma Baby" *1965 – "Als een kind" / "Zeg 's eerlijk" *1966 – " Fernando en Filippo (Tong-tiki-tong)" / "Graag of niet" *1966 – "Fernando en Filippo" / "Onvoltooide symfonie" *1966 – "Fernando y Felipe" / "Ya no me quieres" *1966 – "Fernando and Filippo" / "Don't Make a Fool of Me" *1966 – "Liefde smeult, liefde groeit, liefde bloeit, liefde stoeit" / "B.B. met R." *1966 – "Guantanamera" / " La Bamba" *1967 – "Who Cares" / "I'm Laughing Up the Sleeve" *1971 – "Get High on Jesus" / "Sunshine in My Rainy Day Mind" *1972 – "Spanish Harlem" / "Zeg hem dat de sneeuw valt" *1979 – "Pata Pata" / "I Was Just Like a Child"

As part of Milly & The Sisters Scott

*1965 – "Come Over to My Place" / "Silver Dollar" *1966 – "Baby, Did I Do You Right" / "St. Louis Blues"

Filmography

Film

*'' De vuurproef'', 1968 – Tituba *''

The Fox and the Hound ''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. The 24th Disney animated feature film, the film tells the st ...

'', 1981 – Big Mama (Dutch voice)

Television

*', 1976 – Juliette Chaffour's Maid *'' Vrouwenvleugel'', 1995 (season 3; 22 episodes) – Baby Miller *''

Goede tijden, slechte tijden ''Goede tijden, slechte tijden'' (, ), also known as ''GTST'' or simply ''Goede tijden'', is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily (every workday) soap in the Netherlands a ...

'', 2005 (season 15; 3 episodes) – Dorothea

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Milly 1933 births Living people People from Den Helder Dutch women singers Dutch people of Surinamese descent Dutch television actresses Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1966 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands