The Netherlands was represented by

Lenny Kuhr Helena Hubertina Johanna "Lenny" Kuhr (born 22 February 1950) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. Career In 1967, she started a singing career in the Netherlands, performing songs in the French chanson tradition. In 1969, she represented the Neth ...

, with the song "

De troubadour "De troubadour" ("The troubadour"), sung in Dutch by Lenny Kuhr representing the , was – together with "Boom Bang-a-Bang", "Un jour, un enfant", and "Vivo cantando" from, respectively, the , , and – one of the four winners of the Eurovision ...

", at the

1969 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Madrid, Spain, following the country's victory at the with the song "La, la, la" by Massiel. Organised by the European Broadcasting U ...

, which took place in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on 29 March. "De troubadour" was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on 26 February, and went on to become one of the winners in the four-way tie which ended the 1969 contest.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1969

The final was held on 26 February 1969 at the Circustheater in

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

, hosted by Pim Jacobs. Ten songs took part and the winning song was chosen by a national and an international jury. "De troubadour" emerged the narrow winner by a 1-point margin. Former Dutch representative

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

(

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

) was among the participants.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Kuhr performed 8th in the running order, following 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 ...

and preceding

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 ...

. At the close of voting "De troubadour" had received 18 points, making the Netherlands joint winners of the contest along with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and the United Kingdom, as there was no mechanism in place at the time to determine an outright winner if more than one country tied for first place on the scoreboard. The Netherlands had not appeared to be in serious contention until France, voting third from last, awarded 6 of its 10 points to "De troubadour". This was the Netherlands' third Eurovision victory and brought to an end a dreadful run in which the country had failed to place higher than 10th since 1959.ESC History - Netherlands 1969
/ref> The Dutch conductor at the contest was

Frans de Kok Frans de Kok (18 January 1924 – 4 May 2011) was a Dutch musician. He taught himself to play the piano, the accordion and the bass. In the 1940s and 1950s, he played and arranged music for the Joe Andy Orchestra, which toured the Netherlands, Wes ...

. The Netherlands later won the right to host the 1970 contest after lots were drawn by two of the four winning nations.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

External links

Dutch Preselection 1969

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1969

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969

Eurovision 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 ...