Cornelia Maria "Corry" Brokken (3 December 1932 – 31 May 2016) was a Dutch singer, television presenter and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. In 1957, she won the second edition of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

with the song " Net als toen", representing the Netherlands. Throughout her career, she scored a number of hits, sang in the popular ''Sleeswijk Revue'' with Snip en Snap, and had her own

television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

. She was also the presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, which was held in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, Netherlands, following the victory of Teach-In the year before. She ended her career as a singer in 1973 to study law, after which she became a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and ultimately a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Biography

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1956, Brokken won the '' Nationaal Songfestival 1956'' with the song " Voorgoed voorbij", which gave her the right to represent the Netherlands in the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest alongside runner-up Jetty Paerl. In 1957, she won the '' Nationaal Songfestival'' for the second time in a row, and represented the Netherlands again in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Her entry " Net als toen", written by Willy van Hemert and composed by Guus Jansen, received most points from the international juries and gave the Netherlands its first win in the competition. In 1958, Brokken won the ''Nationaal Songfestival'' once again, this time with the song " Heel de wereld". In the international final, held in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

, Netherlands, her entry finished in last place with only one point. In the book ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'', John Kennedy O'Connor notes that Corry is the only singer ever to have finished both first and last in the contest.

After Eurovision

Brokken was one of the most popular female singers in the Netherlands during the 1950s and 1960s, performing in the ''Sleeswijk Revue'' alongside Snip en Snap and scoring hits, some of which were translated chansons by Charles Aznavour. In 1976, Brokken served as the presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 1997, she announced the results of the Dutch vote for that year's contest. By that time she was no longer active as a singer. She had ended her musical career in 1973 to study law, after which she became a

. She was later installed as a

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

. In the 1990s she returned to the entertainment industry, performing on stage and recording a new album. She also wrote a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

for the weekly women's magazine '' Margriet''. Brokken died on 31 May 2016 at the age of 83.

Personal

Brokken was married three times and has a daughter, Nancy Sleeswijk.

Discography

Singles

*" Voorgoed voorbij" (1956) *" Net als toen" (1957) *" Heel de wereld" (1958) *"Milord" (1960)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brokken, Corry 1932 births 2016 deaths Dutch women singers 20th-century Dutch judges Eurovision Song Contest winners People from Breda Philips Records artists