A classic Eurovision moment: Milly Scott descending the stairs (Youtube) of the Eurovision stage in style, singing her tóóóng ki tong riki tong tong tong intro to the 1966 Dutch entry Fernando & Filippo. A silly tale about one bloke running off to San Antonio to get the girl another bloke was waiting for in Santiago.But there's true eurovision history in there. Milly Scott was the first black singer ever on the Eurovision stage and it took 11 contests for it to happen. The two measly points Milly collected came from the United Kingdom and Ireland. One each.*
Milly Scott had her own TV shows in the Netherlands in the mid sixties and was asked to compete in the Dutch national final along 4 other artists, who each had 3 songs in the competition. She won the Dutch final by a huge margin, but it seemed Europe wasn't ready for Milly.
Fernando & Filippo was her only chart hit in the Netherlands but she continued as a popular singer on radio & TV. Milly Scott later worked in Sweden, Germany and the U.K..
In the 90's she made a comeback as an actress in the popular TV series Vrouwenvleugel (Womens wing, drama series about a women's prision)
Milly Scott recorded Fernando & Filippo in Dutch, Spanish and English and I know of just a handful of coververions. http://www.millyscott.nl/
Conny van Bergen (Dutch)- on VA LP Songfestival Successen (Philips 625807)
Mayte Gaos - Fernando Y Felipe (Spanish)
- on 7"
Mayte Gaos was born in Spain but worked as a singer and actress in Mexico from age 15. She scored several hits like El Gran Tomas (Norman), Vete Con Ella (Chapell Of Love) and Susy La Coquetona.
Los Jolly’s - Fernado Y Felipe (Spanish)
- on EP (Columbia SCGE-81146)
Los Jolly's are Los Mismos
Suzie (Swedish) - Fernando och Filippo (see below)
- on EP (Sonet : SXP 4087)
+ instrumental by The Three Jacksons (Accordion)
SUZIESuzie (Maria Pereboom, 1946 - 2008) was born in the Netherlands, lived in Sweden and had her biggest career in Germany.
Her biggest hit in Germany was Johnny Komm which was a German translation of her first hit Johnny Loves Me. The single became a millionseller in 1964 after the b-side Du, Du Gehst Vorbei re-charted. Other hits were Max Und Moritz, Ich War Allein and Ich Will Immer Nur Dich (pictured)
In the Netherlands she had two hits only: Johnny Loves Me in 1964 and heartfelt classic De Wereld Is Leeg Zonder Jou in 1966 (which is the Dutch version of Du, Du Gehst Vorbei)
Suzie also recorded Gib Mir Mein Herz Zurück which is a German version of Quel Cœur Vas-Tu Briser?, Switzerlands Eurovision entry from 1967 originally by Géraldine (last with 0 points).Suzie recorded in Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Italian, Danish and French.
She died in Sweden March 2008 and I'm sad to say her death went by almost unnoticed.
Read more about Suzie at Ready Steady Girls
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* In 1966 each jury gave 5,3 and 1 point to their top three
