Saskia & Serge are a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 vocal duo consisting of singer Trudy van den Berg (born 23 April 1947, Grootebroek

Grootebroek

Grootebroek is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located in the municipality of Stede Broec.Grootebroek was a separate municipality until 1979....

) and singer-guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Ruud Schaap (born 22 March 1946, Den Helder

Den Helder

Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula...

). They are known for their participation in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

, and have enjoyed a long and successful career in their native Netherlands, where they were awarded the title of Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau

Order of Orange-Nassau

The Order of Orange-Nassau is a military and civil order of the Netherlands which was created on 4 April 1892 by the Queen regent Emma of the Netherlands, acting on behalf of her under-age daughter Queen Wilhelmina. The Order is a chivalry order open to "everyone who have earned special merits for...

 in 2004.

Early career

Van den Berg and Schaap first attracted attention when, as Trudy & Ruud, they won a talent contest organised by singer Max van Praag in 1967. The couple married in 1969 and changed their professional name to Saskia & Serge, as their gentle, folksy style began to attract favourable attention.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1970, Saskia & Serge took part in the Dutch Eurovision selection

Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970

The Netherlands was represented by three-sister group Hearts of Soul, with the song '"Waterman", at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Amsterdam on 21 March...

 with "Het spinnewiel" ("The Spinning-Wheel"), which was narrowly and controversially beaten into second place. They returned in 1971, this time singing all six songs in the selection, and "Tijd

Tijd

Tijd , or De tijd as it states the Eurovision official web site, was the Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, performed in Dutch by Saskia & Serge.The song is a ballad, with the duo singing about the significance of time...

" ("Time") was chosen to go forward to the 16th Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1971

The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth Eurovision Song Contest and the first held in Dublin, Ireland. The new voting system that was introduced in this Eurovision did have one big problem: some juries gave fewer points out than others...

, held in Dublin on 3 April. Although Saskia suffered a microphone malfunction at the start of the song, "Tijd" finished in joint sixth place of the 18 entries.

Later career

After releasing several folk-themed albums to a largely indifferent response, Saskia & Serge changed direction in 1976 by releasing a successful country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

-style album, We'll Give You Everything, the title track from which was a top 10 hit. The album got them noticed outside the Netherlands, and they became the first Dutch artists to appear at the Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

 in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. Further hit singles followed, including "Mama, He's a Soldier Now" which became their biggest hit, peaking at #6 in 1980.

Saskia & Serge have continued to release popular albums of both original material and cover versions. Their fifteenth studio album, Mooie liedjes, came out in December 2008, consisting of new adaptations of well-known Dutch songs.

External links

Saskia & Serge website

Complete discography

1971 at Dingadong.nl