It’s been announced that the winner of the second Eurovision Song Contest, Corry Brokken, has died. She was 83.
Corry had a long association with the Eurovision Song Contest, as she was there in Lugano for the first contest – which celebrated its 60th anniversary only last week. She was one of two Dutch singers that year, and sang the second Dutch song ‘Voorgoed voorbij’ (‘Over for good’). Undaunted, she came back in 1957 and won in the German city of Frankfurt am Main with ‘Net als toen’ (‘Just like then’). Corry was accompanied by Sem Nijveen on violin and the legendary Dolf van der Linden conducted the orchestra. She beat the previous winner Lys Assia. In 1958 she became one of only three people to ever represent their country the year after they won, when she performed ‘Heel de wereld’ (‘The whole world’) in Hilversum. Sadly her luck had run out and she finished equal ninth in a field of 11.
In 1959 we saw Corry in the Dutch National final with two songs. She was involved in three of the eight songs but lost out to Teddy Scholten. Teddy went on to win the fourth Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes. In 1966, Corry was asked to participate by Germany. She declined.
Corry’s next association with Eurovision was in 1976, when she presented the show. It came from De Congresgebouw in The Hague she oversaw a win by the United Kingdom’s Brotherhood of Man.
Finally, we saw Corry as the spokeswoman for the Dutch voting the last time the contest came from Ireland in 1997.
Between her Eurovision appearances, she became a star of both Dutch and German television, hosting a series of variety shows. She also became an attorney and then a judge.
Her health declined over recent years, but she still made various appearances on TV and in theatre.
It goes without saying that she will be missed, and our thoughts go out to her family at this sad time.
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Author: John Stanton
Source: Eurovision Ireland
Categories: Eurovision 2016, Eurovision Songs, Eurovision Stars, Eurovision Winners, Germany, In Memoriam, Netherlands
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