Nina and Frederik were a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 popular singing

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 duo

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their repertoire consisted of a blend of folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

s and standards. The duo consisted of Frederik, Baron van Pallandt

Frederik, Baron van Pallandt

Frederik Jan Gustav Floris, Baron van Pallandt was a Dutch singer best known as the male, guitar-playing half of the singing duo Nina & Frederik, which was together from the late 1950s to the early 1960s....

 and his wife at the time Nina van Pallandt.

History

Nina and Frederik began singing together at the age of four, but since Frederik's father was the Dutch ambassador to Denmark, his family moved away and the children lost contact with each other. However in 1957 he re-established contact with Nina at her parents' home and one evening played his guitar for her. To his surprise Nina began singing to it, and it was at that moment that they decided to sing together. Originally they sang only for their friends, and occasionally at house parties. This led to them being asked to perform at charity shows and soon they were in demand professionally. On 1 July 1957, the duo made their professional show business debut in Copenhagen's top night club, Mon Coeur. Within a matter of months they had become great favourites throughout Europe. They married in September 1960 and, in 1961, had their own series on British Television, Nina and Frederik at Home.

Their earliest known single was "Jamaica Farewell

Jamaica Farewell

"Jamaica Farewell" is a calypso about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess . Lord Burgess was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926. His mother was from Barbados and his father was from Virginia. The song first appeared on Harry Belafonte's...

"/"Come Back Liza", both Calypso songs, issued in 1959 on Pye International 7N 25021, but showing a 1957 'recording first published' date.

Their album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Nina and Frederik, charted at number 9 on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 in February 1960. Their follow-up collection, also entitled Nina and Frederik, but featuring completely different songs, peaked at number 11 in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 in May 1961.

In 1963 they spent three weeks performing at the Savoy Hotel

Savoy Hotel

The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...

, and in December of the same year they gave a concert at the Royal Festival Hall, and made guest appearances on the panel of Juke Box Jury

Juke Box Jury

Juke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....

.

Well-known songs

The best known songs from the duo are:

• "Mary's Boy Child
  Mary's Boy Child
  "Mary's Boy Child" is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. With its religious content, it is also widely performed as a Christmas carol....
  
  " (1959)
• "Little Donkey
  Little Donkey
  Little Donkey is a popular Christmas carol, written by English hymnwriter Eric Boswell which describes the journey by Mary the mother of Jesus to Bethlehem on the donkey of the title. It was first recorded by Gracie Fields, whose single reached Number 21 in the UK Singles Chart in 1959.-External...
  
  " (1960)
• "Listen to the Ocean" (1960)
• "Sucu-Sucu" (1961)