School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Anneke Grönloh

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Anneke Grönloh was born in 1942 in Tondano on Celebes, then still the Dutch East Indies. She spent her first years of life in a Japanese camp in Fukuoka, while her father, an officer in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, had been interned even before she was born. After the war the family moved to the Netherlands and she grew up in Eindhoven. At school she met Peter Koelewijn, with whom she began performing at parties. In 1959 her career took off after she won a talent contest.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1960s she had hit after hit, above all with Brandend zand, one of the best-selling Dutch songs of all time. In 1964 she represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with Jij bent mijn leven, which came tenth. That year she married Wim-Jaap van der Laan, a DJ at Radio Veronica. She began an international career and, besides popular songs, also sang kroncong numbers such as Bengawan Solo and Nina Bobo. Jazz was, by her own account, her favourite genre. Soerabaja from 1963 belongs to that Indo repertoire.

Influence

In 2000, on the strength of the sales of Brandend zand, she was named Singer of the Century in the Netherlands. She stopped because of health problems after a last performance in August 2017 and died in France in 2018. Her voice is clear and warm. She is important in the history of Dutch pop music because she brought the Indo music world to a wide public, at a time when Dutch songs still rarely reached the charts.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Brandend zand by Anneke Grönloh. Notice the simple accompaniment, the slow melody and how her voice carries the longing in the song.

Discography

Studio albums

Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsIndopop