Introduction

The Netherlands will send a real gem to the Eurovision Song Contest: Anouk. Unlike the last years the Dutch broadcaster TROS has made an internal choice. Maybe due to the bad results of the recent years, the Netherlands have to bring a very special and established singer. The last victory is more than 30 years ago and the Netherlands have not been seen in the grand finals over the last eight years anymore. Anouk is the most popular performing artist of the Netherlands so this year the Netherlands belong the favourite circle already.

Anouk Teuwe was born in 1975 in The Hague. Her mother is a blues singer and so Anouk grew up with music at an early age. She studied at the music conservatory in Rotterdam, went to the USA. Anouk started as a background singer with the band Shot Gun Wedding and later on she had a common stage appearance with the band Golden Earring. The singer Barry Hay from Golden Earring has written Anouk’s first song “Mood Indigo”. The breakthrough Anouk could achieve with “Nobody’s Wife” in 1997. This song was also a hit in Norway and Sweden. The first album “Together Alone” has been sold over 1 million times and reached double platinum status in the Netherlands. This album has also been released in Scandinavia, Belgium, Israel, Turkey and Italy. So a very good precondition for the ESC.

Anouk has released 8 studio albums and received various awards like the Edison (9 times) which is Dutch version of Grammy, the Golden Harp, the 3FM Award, the MTV award for best Dutch act. In other words, Anouk has reached a very high status in the Netherlands. Her music style can be described as rock music with ballads, like a mix of Joan Osborne, Melissa Etheridge and Alison Morisette. With her powerful and clear voice she has bewitched the Dutch people. And now she hopes to convince the entire Europe. Anouk is married with the Dutch singer Romon Stojin, from the band Postmen and has four children.

The song “Birds” is an authentic ballad, written by Anouk herself. Compared to her other songs this is a real peaceful and calm song. Anouk is going to make a plain stage show, simple and authentic, so she won’t dance or run on stage, wearing no feathers like Joan last year. With this contribution the Netherlands will definitely have a strong ace this year. A well known established singer, a really strong song and a very good looking and professional singer. If nothing goes wrong, Anouk will bring the Netherlands into the grand final again and with a little bit of luck this might be the winner of the 2013 ESC. Good Luck Anouk!

History

Participations: 55          

Debut: 1956

Biggest success: 4x 1st place “Net Als Toen” by Corry Brokken in 1957, “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten in 1959, “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr in 1969, “Ding-A-Dong” by Teach-In in 1975, 2x 2nd place “Voorgoed Voorbij” by Corry Brokken in 1956, “De Vogels Van Holland” by Jetty Paerl in 1956, 1x 3rd place “I See A Star” by Mouth and MacNeal in 1974, 2x 4th place, 2x 5th place, 2x 6th place, 3x 7th place, 1x 8th place, 5x 9th place, 2x 10th place

Since the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 the Netherlands participate on a more or less regular basis. There have been certain years when the Dutch broadcaster NOS decided to withdraw. The Netherlands had four victories in history: “Net Als Toen” by Corry Brokken in 1957, “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten in 1959, “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr in 1969, “Ding-A-Dong” by Teach-In in 1975.

Over the years there were quite a lot top 10 places. The most recent success were “Rechtop In De Wind” by Marcha in 1987 (5th), “Vrede” by Ruth Jacott in 1993 (6th) and “Hemel en Aarde” in 1998 (4th). Unfortunately, the Netherlands were not very lucky with qualifying for the final; this only happened once out of nine times. So it would be great to the Netherlands back in the grand final of the ESC. Therefore it seems that the Dutch people have lost a bit of interest and enthusiasm in the ESC due to the reason of absence in the grand final and that the last victory is more than 30 years ago!