Tess Gaerthé (born 21 August 1991), better known as simply Tess, is a Dutch singer and former child star. Gaerthé rose to fame as the Dutch representative at the third

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest, often known simply as Junior Eurovision, is an international children's Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 2003. Each part ...

in 2005. Singing "

Stupid Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit, an inability to learn. It may be innate, assumed or reactive. The word ''stupid'' comes from the Latin word ''stupere''. Stupid characters are often used for comedy in fictio ...

", she finished in 7th place with 82 points, which remained the best result for the country until 2009.

Life and career

Tess was born in the VU Amsterdam Hospital on 21 August 1991, half an hour after her twin brother Joël. They enjoyed a musical and intercultural upbringing due to their numerous international

au-pair An au pair (; : au pairs) is a person working for, and living as part of, a host family. Typically, au pairs take on a share of the family’s responsibility for child care as well as some housework, and receive a monetary allowance or stipen ...

s. In 2001, Gaerthé and her family relocate to Belgium after her mother opened an office in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In 2005, Gaerthé, auditioned for the Dutch preselection of the

with a song she co-wrote with her mother, "Stupid". Eventually, she was appointed as the Dutch representative for the contest in

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. At the time she participated in the contest, Gaerthé lived in

Putte Putte () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality includes the towns of Putte, Beerzel, and the hamlets and . The town of Putte is around east of Mech ...

, Antwerp. At the end of the voting, Tess finished in seventh position, the country's best performance in the contest at that time. After the contest, she released several additional singles, including the theme song for the children's television series ''Spetter'', "Mijn allerbeste vriend". Together with Thomas Berge, Gaerthé sang the Dutch version of the main duet of ''

High School Musical 2 ''High School Musical 2'' is a 2007 American Musical film, musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 70th Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), it is the sequel to ''High School Musical'' (2006) and ...

'', by Disney. Gaerthé's first album, ''Onweerstaanbaar'' was released on 6 March 2008 in Belgium and the Netherlands and was the final step of a her earlier singing career, as she had no desire to continue to stay a child star. As of 2018, Gaerthé works as a music licenser at the label Cloud 9 Music. In 2018, she studied International Music Management. In 2020, Gaerthé performed "Stupid" live on

NPO 3FM NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times. History As ...

, marking the fifteenth anniversary of her song.

Discography

Albums

*2008: '' Onweerstaanbaar''

Singles

* 2005: "Stupid" * 2006: "First Kiss" * 2006: "Mijn allerbeste vriend" * 2007: "De stem van mijn hart" (featuring Thomas Berge) * 2008: "Little Pink Thing" * 2008: "Change"

References

External links

* * 1991 births Living people Dutch child actresses Dutch child singers Musicians from Amsterdam Dutch twins 21st-century Dutch singers 21st-century Dutch women singers Actresses from Amsterdam {{Netherlands-singer-stub