Bojoura, born Raina Gerardina Bojoura van Melzen (15 April 1947), is a folk and pop vocalist, whose greatest success came in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Bojoura, born Raina Gerardina Bojoura van Melzen (15 April 1947), is a folk and pop vocalist, whose greatest success came in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Bojoura was born in The Hague, The Netherlands to Bulgarian opera singer Dany Zonewa. [1] Bojoura was discovered by George Kooymans of the rock band Golden Earring, who went on to write and produce many of her songs. Bojoura scored her first hit in June 1967 with the Kooymans ballad "Everybody's Day" which reached top 20 due to heavy airplay on Radio Veronica. [1] She released her album Night Flight Night Sight in 1968, which was not commercially successful.
In 1969, she charted once more in Europe with her version of the song "Frank Mills" from the Broadway musical Hair. It was through this song that she connected with Thijs van Leer, whose band (which later became the Focus) performed in a Dutch production of the musical. Van Leer wrote songs for Bojoura for her third album, The Beauty of Bojoura. [1] She also had a minor success with the title track of If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, a song that later inspired the opening lines of the song "Chura Liya Hai Tumne" from the 1973 Indian film Yaadon Ki Baaraat . [2]
Through the mid-1970s she had some success in the Netherlands; in 1974, her cover of "The Letter" reached the top 20 on the Dutch charts. After 1980, she concentrated on her family life and helped run her husband's drumming school. [1] Bojoura was married to the Dutch drummer Hans Cleuver, who died in March 2018. Cleuver was a founding member of the progressive rock band Focus. [3]
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NED Dutch Top 40 [1] | NED Top 100 [4] | ||||
| 1967 | "Dream Man" | 34 | — | ||
| "Everybody's Day" | 18 | — | |||
| 1968 | "Circus Will Be In Town In Time" | — | — | ||
| 1969 | "Frank Mills" | 8 | 7 | ||
| "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" | 35 | — | |||
| 1971 | "Black Sheep Child" | — | — | ||
| "Everything's Allright" | Tip | — | |||
| "Once Upon A Time" | — | — | |||
| 1972 | "Allentown Jail" | Tip | — | ||
| 1973 | "What Is Love" | Tip | — | ||
| 1974 | "Thank You For Calling" | — | — | ||
| "The Letter" | 16 | 14 | |||
| 1977 | "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" | — | — | ||
| 1980 | "Hard Times" | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in 1967 in The Hague. It was part of the movement in the Netherlands that got generally known under the name Nederbeat. The band had a number of hits throughout the counterculture movement during the 1960s and early 1970s, including "Send Me a Postcard" and "Venus", which became their biggest hit and reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and many other countries during 1969 and 1970. The band sold 13.5 million records by 1973 but disbanded in 1974. Together with Golden Earring they are considered as the most successful Nederbeat-band, as far as the criterium is scoring hits abroad and especially in the United States. Because of their international ambitions, their lyrics were in English, and were eventually improved for successful cover versions of "Venus," like that of Bananarama.
Focus are a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flutist Thijs van Leer, drummer Hans Cleuver, bassist Martijn Dresden, and guitarist Jan Akkerman. The band have undergone numerous formations in its history; since December 2016, it has comprised Van Leer, drummer Pierre van der Linden, guitarist Menno Gootjes, and bassist Udo Pannekeet. They have sold one million RIAA-certified albums in the United States.
Golden Earring was a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as The Golden Earrings. They achieved worldwide fame with their international hit songs "Radar Love" in 1973, which went to number one on the Dutch charts, reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, and went to number thirteen on the United States charts, "Twilight Zone" in 1982, and "When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. During their career they had nearly 30 top-ten singles on the Dutch charts and released 25 studio albums.
Peter Koelewijn is a founding father of Dutch-language rock and roll. Koelewijn is also a successful producer and songwriter for other Dutch artists. His most famous song is "Kom van dat dak af".
Jan Akkerman is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz fusion influences.
Frank Boudewijn de Groot is a Dutch singer-songwriter, known for "Welterusten Meneer de President" (1966).
Thijs van Leer is a Dutch musician, singer, songwriter, composer and producer, best known as the founding member of the rock band Focus as its primary vocalist, keyboardist, and flautist. Born and raised in Amsterdam among a musical family, van Leer took up the piano and flute as a child and pursued them at university and music academies.
Yaadon Ki Baaraat is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language masala film, directed by Nasir Hussain and written by Salim–Javed. It featured an ensemble cast, starring Dharmendra, Vijay Arora, Tariq, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh and Ajit.
"Hocus Pocus" is a song by the Dutch rock band Focus, written by keyboardist, flautist, and vocalist Thijs van Leer and guitarist Jan Akkerman. It was recorded and released in 1971 as the opening track of their second studio album Moving Waves. An edited version was released as a single on the Imperial, Polydor and Blue Horizon labels in Europe in 1971, but failed to chart outside of the Netherlands(NL#09).
Mac and Katie Kissoon are a pop soul duo, consisting of brother and sister Mac Kissoon and Katie Kissoon.
Focus 3 or Focus III is the third studio album by Dutch rock band Focus, released as a double album in November 1972 on Imperial Records. Recorded after touring in support of their previous album, Moving Waves (1971), the album saw the band write extended pieces and is their first with bassist Bert Ruiter in the group's line-up.
Focus II is the second studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in October 1971 on Imperial Records. Following the departure of original bassist Martin Dresden and drummer Hans Cleuver in 1970, the band recruited Cyril Havermans and Pierre van der Linden, respectively, and prepared material for a new album. Focus recorded Focus II in London in April and May 1971 with Mike Vernon as producer. The album features "Hocus Pocus" a hard rock song featuring keyboardist Thijs van Leer's yodelling, scat singing, and whistling, and "Eruption", a 22-minute track inspired by the opera Euridice by Italian composer Jacopo Peri.
Cyril Havermans is a Dutch musician, best known for being in the progressive rock band, Focus.
Nederbeat was the Dutch rock boom of mid-1960s influenced by British beat groups and rock bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and, much like British freakbeat, it is essentially the Dutch counterpart to American garage rock. Among the best-known Nederbeat groups are the Golden Earrings, The Motions, The Outsiders and Shocking Blue.
Zen was a Dutch rock band, founded by Siegfried 'Siebe' de Jong and Dirk van der Ploeg in 1965. Van der Ploeg was the songwriter for the band, but the band underwent numerous changes in its line-up in its existence. The hippie-oriented one hit wonder band hit the top spot on the Dutch Top 40 singles chart in January 1969, with their version of the theme song from the musical Hair.
Elisabeth Dorathea List, generally known as Liesbeth List was a Dutch singer, stage actress and television personality. She became popular during the 1960s and frequently collaborated with Ramses Shaffy. She also sang Jacques Brel's chansons in Dutch translation.
Earth and Fire were a locally successful Dutch, anglophonic progressive / symphonic rock band, that over time evolved into a pop group. Formed in the Netherlands by twin brothers Chris and Gerard Koerts, and most popular from 1970, after adding a female singer, turning frontwoman, Jerney Kaagman.
"Sylvia" is a 1972 song by Dutch progressive rock band Focus. It was released on their 1972 album Focus 3 and as a single on 27 January 1973. The single became the band's biggest international hit, reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and number 89 in the US Billboard chart.
The Motions were a Dutch band from The Hague founded in 1964 and active until 1970. The lead singer was Rudy Bennett, with Robbie van Leeuwen on guitar, Henk Smitskamp on bass guitar, and Sieb Warner on drums. They were the first Nederbeat band to achieve chart success.
"Siffler sur la colline" is a song by Joe Dassin. It was the fourth track of side 1 of his 1969 album Joe Dassin .
