Joke Bruijs (born 14 January 1952) is a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

actress, singer and cabaret artist. She sang with big bands, recorded songs and appeared in films and a Dutch TV soap. She has been called the "First Lady of Rotterdam".

Life

Bruijs was born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

in 1952 into a musical family. In 1966 she joined a pop group named the "Spitfires" who were based in her home city. Her cabaret work has included work with "Mini & Maxi" and the Dutch comedian

André van Duin André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variat ...

. In 1970 she competed in the National Song Contest where she came fourth with a song called "Okido". The winner of the contest, Hearts of Soul, went on to unsuccesffuly compete in the Eurovision Song Contest. She worked with singer

Gerard Cox Gerardus Antonius "Gerard" Cox (born 6 March 1940, Rotterdam) is a Dutch singer, cabaret artist, actor, and director. For fifteen years, he played the lead character of the Dutch sitcom ''Toen Was Geluk Heel Gewoon''. Life In 2018, Cox had a le ...

and they married each other. left, in "Then Happiness Was Common" In 2003 she was given an Erasus Pin by her home city. In 2009 she first appearred in the long running Dutch soap

Goede tijden, slechte tijden ''Goede tijden, slechte tijden'' (, ), also known as ''GTST'' or simply ''Goede tijden'', is the longest-running Dutch soap opera, which began on 1 October 1990 on RTL4. The programme was the first daily (every workday) soap in the Netherlands a ...

. She was in the soap again in 2010 and a bit in 2011. On screen she plays the mother of characters Rik and Danny de Jong before her character left for Canada. Her character returned to the story in 2018. When she had been appearing for fifty years in 2017 she was given a celebration. On 7 May there was a concert featuring North Sea Symphonic Bigbad Orchestra to honour the "first lady of Rotterdam". The concert was held at

De Doelen De Doelen is a concert venue and convention centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1934 but then destroyed in 1940 during the German bombardment of Rotterdam in May 1940 at the outset of World War II. It was rebuilt in 19 ...

. She did a tour with

The Ramblers The Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association, Great Britain's leading walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path ...

whom she had sang with in the 60s when they featured on Dutch radio. In 2020, she was involved with a film which also starred her former spouse, Gerard Cox. In 2022, they starred in the film '' Casa Coco''.

Private life

She was married to the singer Gerard Cox and they remained good friends. Since about 2003 she has been in a relationship with the musician Frits Landesbergen. They made an album together and his marriage was ending and her marriage to Boris Beyer had ended. Landesbergen is younger by eleven years. They have a second home on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruijs, Joke 1952 births Living people People from Rotterdam 20th-century Dutch comedians 21st-century Dutch comedians Dutch actors Dutch singers