The Netherlands was represented by

Heddy Lester Heddy Lester (born Heddy Affolter, 18 June 1950 – 29 January 2023) was a Dutch singer and actress, best known outside the Netherlands for her participation in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career Lester was born in Amsterdam. Her ...

, with the song "De mallemolen", at the

1977 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organise ...

, which took place in London on 7 May. Lester was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on 2 February.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1977

The final was held at the Congresgebouw in The Hague, hosted by Ati Dijckmeester. Ten songs took part and voting was by eleven "celebrity" juries of nine people based in each Dutch province. Each juror awarded one point to his/her favourite song, with 99 points available in total. "De mallemolen" emerged the winner by a 5-point margin.

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Lester performed 3rd in the running order, following Monaco and preceding Austria. "De mallemolen" had been one of the front-runners in pre-contest betting, but at the close of voting had managed to muster only 35 points, placing the Netherlands 12th of the 18 entries. The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to Belgium. The Dutch conductor at the contest was Harry van Hoof. Because the normal jury made up of members of the public did not show up on the day of the final for unknown reasons, a jury made up of music and entertainment professionals was brought in at the last minute. These people were , Tony Nolte,

Mieke Telkamp Mieke Telkamp (; 14 June 1934 – 20 October 2016) was a Dutch singer. Her career spanned over 50 years, both as a singer and a TV personality. Telkamp's most popular song was the 1971 Dutch version of ''Amazing Grace'', which sold over 1 million ...

, , Leo Janssen, , , , and Hans van Hemert.

Voting

References

External links

Dutch Preselection 1977
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1977

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977

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 ...