Annie Palmen (born Anna Maria Palmen; 19 August 1926 – 15 January 2000) was a Dutch singer, best known for her participation in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest.

Early career

Palmen was born in IJmuiden. She started her career singing with dance orchestras around the city of Haarlem, then sang on various radio stations before her first hit record, "Ik zal je nooit meer vergeten", in 1958.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1960, Palmen took part in the Dutch Eurovision selection, with the song "

Wat een geluk The Netherlands was represented by Rudi Carrell, with the song "Wat een geluk", at the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 29 March in London. Although Teddy Scholten had won the previous contest for the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaste ...

" ("What luck"). In a somewhat odd selection process, each of eight songs was performed twice by different artists and a public vote chose the best song. A professional jury then decided which of the two artists would take the song to Eurovision. "Wat een geluk" was duly chosen as the song, but in the head-to-head with

Rudi Carrell Rudi Carrell (born Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar; 19 December 1934 – 7 July 2006) was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Linda de Mol, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in ...

, Palmen lost out. Palmen returned in 1963 in a more straightforward procedure, performing three songs from which a professional jury would pick a winner. The song "Geen ander" ("Nobody Else") was chosen to go to the eighth Eurovision Song Contest, held in London on 23 March. Before the contest however, the lyrics to the song were completely rewritten, and it became " Een speeldoos" ("A Musical Box"). From a field of 16, "Een speeldoos" was one of four songs (the others being the entries from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and Sweden) which failed to score. This was the Netherlands' second successive 'nul points' showing, following that of De Spelbrekers the previous year.

Later career

In 1967, Palmen became a featured singer with the Boertjes van Buuten orchestra (Boertjes van Buuten is a

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...

for Little farmers from outside towns) on the monthly television programme ''Mik'' for channel

KRO KRO, or (Catholic Radio Broadcasting), was a Dutch public broadcasting organization founded on 23 April 1925. Broadly Catholic in its spiritual outlook, KRO broadcast the bulk of its television output on the NPO 1 channel. KRO was also responsi ...

, playing the role of Drika. This was a success and raised her profile. However, after the cancellation of ''Mik'' in 1972, Palmen dropped out of sight.

Death

Palmen died in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

on 15 January 2000, after a long illness of an undisclosed nature, aged 73.

Discography

Singles * 1958: "De dokter heeft gezegd" * 1958: "Ik zal je nooit meer vergeten" * 1958: "Laat pa het maar doen" * 1958: "Piero" * 1959: "De zilvren maan van Maratonga" * 1959: "Wat fijn kapitein" * 1960: "Sailor" * 1960: "Wat een geluk" * 1963: "Een speeldoos" * 1963: "Waarom laat je mij alleen" * 1964: "Ga naar Bombay, ga naar Rio" * 1964: "Ich tanze mit dir (in den Himmel hinein)" * 1965: "Speel nog eenmaal voor mij Habanero"

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmen, Annie 1926 births 2000 deaths People from Velsen Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the Netherlands Dutch television actresses Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1963 Philips Records artists 20th-century Dutch women singers Nationaal Songfestival contestants