Ruth Jacott
Encyclopedia
Ruth Jacott is 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...

 singer, originally from Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

.

Jacott transitioned from musical theatre to popular music in 1993, when she represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 15 May 1993 in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. The presenter was Fionnuala Sweeney. Niamh Kavanagh was the winner of this Eurovision for Ireland with the song, "In Your Eyes"...

. Her song, "Vrede
Vrede (song)
"Vrede" was the Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993, cowritten by Eric van Tijn, Jochem Fluitsma and performed in Dutch by Ruth Jacott....

" (Peace), was one of the favorites to win, and ended up ranking sixth out of 25 at Millstreet. She has since released nine Dutch-language albums, four of which made the Top Ten on the Dutch music charts.

Biography

Ruth Jacott was born in Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

 and at nine, moved with her family to The Netherlands, where at 17 she took part in a talent contest, after which she received many offers to perform. She dropped out of the Hilversum
Hilversum
is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...

 Conservatory and began her career with The Vips and bands like The Skymasters, the VARA-Dansorkest and the Metropole Orkest.

Breakthrough

In 1988, Jacott won the Knokke
Knokke
Knokke is one of a group of communities that are all grouped in the administrative community Knokke-Heist, in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. Knokke itself has 15,653 inhabitants .Knokke-Heist has 33,818 inhabitants ....

 Festival in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. After this success she had many offers to work in the musical world. She landed key roles in Dutch and German-language productions of Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

 and A Night At The Cotton Club, touring The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. In 1989 Jacott received the Zilveren Harp (Silver Harp) award. One year later she sang the duet "Tegyo Makandra" with Hans Vermeulen, in commemoration of a plane crash in Paramaribo
Paramaribo
Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...

, the capital of Suriname. The duet was also released after the 1992 crash of an El Al flight
El Al Flight 1862
On 4 October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747 cargo plane of the Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For the location in the Bijlmermeer, the crash is known in Dutch as the "Bijlmerramp"...

 in the Bijlmer (southeast Amsterdam), and became a hit.

In 1993 her career took an important turn when she was asked to represent The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Festival in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. She received 92 points and ranked #6 with the song "Vrede" (Peace). The song's chorus stated:

"We bouwen huizen om orkanen te weerstaan (We build houses to survive hurricanes),

En maken schepen om met elke storm te varen (And construct ships that can weather any storm);

Er wordt gesleuteld aan een lamp die nooit kapot zal gaan (A lamp that never breaks is being built);

Het wil alleen ons niet zo lukken, om de vrede te bewaren (We just can't seem to manage to keep the peace)."

Her Dutch-language debut album Ruth Jacott appeared shortly afterwards. In July she had a big hit together with Paul de Leeuw
Paul de Leeuw
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA...

 with the duet "Blijf bij mij" (Stay with me). She sang this song solo during the Dutch Nationale Songfestival (national precursor to Eurovision). In Spring 1994 her second album "Hou me vast" (Hold me), came out and went double platinum in the Dutch market. In addition she collaborated on albums with Gerard Joling
Gerard Joling
Gerard Jan Joling is a Dutch singer and television presenter. Known for his high tenor voice, he rose to fame in the late 80's and released a string of singles including "Ticket to the Tropics", "Love is in your Eyes", and his biggest hit, "No more boleros", a song that reached the top 10 in...

, René Froger
René Froger
René Froger is a Dutch singer.He was born and spent his first years in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood in Amsterdam. His father, Bolle Jan, had a cafe that Froger started performing in. He began with Ted de Braak and Mini en Maxi and in 1987 he released his first single, Love Leave Me...

 and Oscar Harris. With the charity single Buseruka, written together with listeners of Dutch radio station 3FM, she was able to collect donations for UNICEF and Oxfam Novib
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

 projects in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

.

Her third album "Geheimen" (Secrets) appeared in 1995 and went gold. She performed in shows in major Dutch theaters. With all the pressure she became exhausted and she needed to rest her voice. In February 1997 she was honored with a "Golden Harp" award. Two months later her album Hartslag (Heartbeat) was released. This also became a big success and she began another tour.

The compilation album Altijd Dichtbij (Always close by) was released in 1998 and contained a selection of five years of hits. She sang the theme song of a Dutch film Kruimeltje.

2000's

In 2000 her vocal chords were operated on. After she healed, she toured theaters again. Her album Vals verlangen (False longing) went gold and in October she performed at Amsterdam's Carré Theater which was filmed by TV network RTL 4 and later appeared on CD.

In 2002 the album Tastbaar (Tangible) was released and the single Onderhuids (Under my skin). Both were produced by Humphrey Campbell and the Dutch singing duo Fluitsma & Van Tijn
Fluitsma & Van Tijn
Fluitsma & Van Tijn is a famous Dutch writing duo made up of:*Jochem Fluitsma *Eric van Tijn...

. Two years later the duet Nu Is Het Over (Now it's over), with Mark Dakriet (ex-Re-Play), was released.

In 2004, the compilation CD Het Beste Van Ruth Jacott (The best of Ruth Jacott) was released.

In the 2005-6 Dutch theater season Ruth was again in Dutch theaters with her show A Touch of Latin in which she sang both in Dutch and Spanish, with some numbers reworked in a Latin style. It was so successful that a second tour followed in the 2006-7 season.

In 2008 Jacott played the title role in the musical Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, about the legendary African American singer. Her performance was well received by both the critics and the public. On June 2, 2008 she received the Dutch Musical Award for "Best Female Lead in a Small Musical".

In December 2008 Ruth appeared with her own Christmas show, which was also well received.

On 23 March 23, 2009 the single Jammer, maar helaas (Too bad) was released from her new Latin album Passie (Passion) which appeared on April 20, 2009. Passie is a double CD with the original-language versions on CD 1 and the Dutch-language versions on CD 2. Starting in Fall 2009 Jacott will tour theaters with Passie.

2010's

In 2010 Jacott was a guest at the "Toppers" concert in the Amsterdam ArenA
Amsterdam ArenA
Amsterdam Arena is a stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is the largest stadium in the nation and it was built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost of €140 million, and was officially opened on 14 August 1996. It has been used for association football, American football, concerts, and other events...

, where a quartet of well-known Dutch-language pop singers perform a high-camp show and where other top Dutch musical starts appear as special guests.

In June 2010 Jacott climbed Alpe d'Huez for the Radio 2 team on Radio 2's evening commute show "Knooppunt Kranenbarg" (Kranenbarg Junction).

Starting in February 2011 Jacott can be seen in her one woman show Simply the Best, in which she performs songs from her heroines of days gone by, and tells her life story in between the songs, written by Frank Houtappels.

On the 4th of October, she released a new single duet with Edsilia Rombley
Edsilia Rombley
Edsilia Francisca Rombley is a Dutch singer. She participated in the Soundmixshow in 1996. She represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1998 and 2007.-Biography:...

, called "Uit Het Oog, Niet Uit Mijn Hart".

Television

In 2010 Jacott played a supporting part in 't Spaanse Schaep (The Spanish Sheep) as Jopie Vrijman.

Albums

|-
|align="left"|Ruth Jacott||1993||01-05-1993||30||23|| Platinum
|-
|align="left"|Hou me vast||1994||14-05-1994||2||80|| 2x Platinum
|-
|align="left"|Geheimen||1995||14-10-1995||8||40|| Gold
|-
|align="left"|Hartslag||1997||12-04-1997||2||35|| Platinum
|-
|align="left"|Altijd dichtbij: De hitcollectie||1998||07-03-1998||11||16|| Compilation
|-
|align="left"|Vals verlangen||1999||01-05-1999||6||16|| Gold
|-
|align="left"|Live in Carré||2000||02-12-2000||44||13|| Live album
|-
|align="left"|Tastbaar||2002||16-11-2002||28||9||
|-
|align="left"|Het beste van Ruth Jacott||2004||13-03-2004||23||14|| Compilation
|-
|align="left"|Passie||17-04-2009||25-04-2009||13||18||
|-
|align="left"|A tribute to Billie Holiday||2010||20-11-2010||41||3|| with the Metropole Orkest dir. by Michael Abene
|}

Singles

|-
|align="left"|Teygo Makandra||1989||19-05-1990||tip17||-|| met Hans Vermeulen / #60 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Teygo Makandra||1992||24-10-1992||20||4|| met Hans Vermeulen / re-release /
#27 in de Single Top 100 / Alarmschijf
|-
|align="left"|Vrede||1993||15-05-1993||16||7|| Eurovisiesongfestival / #16 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Blijf bij mij||1993||03-07-1993||5||10|| met Paul de Leeuw
Paul de Leeuw
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA...

 / #5 in de Single Top 100 / Alarmschijf
|-
|align="left"|Onderweg naar morgen||1994||05-02-1994||24||5|| Tune voor de soap Onderweg Naar Morgen /
#15 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Vrij met mij||1994||23-04-1994||25||6|| #19 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Buseruka (Lied voor Rwanda) / Ik kan echt zonder jou||1994||16-07-1994||8||12|| #8 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Ik hou zoveel van jou (Rad van fortuin)||1994||15-10-1994||33||3|| #30 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Zon voor de maan||1994||17-12-1994||tip18||-||
|-
|align="left"|You've got a friend||1995||09-09-1995||3||6|| met Marco Borsato
Marco Borsato
Marco Borsato is a Dutch singer. He started performing in Italian before switching to Dutch in 1994. He is married to Leontine Ruiters and has three children.-Biography:...

 & René Froger
René Froger
René Froger is a Dutch singer.He was born and spent his first years in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood in Amsterdam. His father, Bolle Jan, had a cafe that Froger started performing in. He began with Ted de Braak and Mini en Maxi and in 1987 he released his first single, Love Leave Me...

 /
#3 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Ik ga door||1995||30-09-1995||20||5|| #24 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Kippevel||1995||25-11-1995||tip11||-||
|-
|align="left"|Hij gaat voor C!||1997||08-02-1997||3||8|| als BN'ers voor BNN
BNN
BNN is a three letter abbreviation which can refer to*Banana News Network, A Pakistani comedy TV Show.*Bart's Neverending Network , a radio and television broadcasting organization in the Netherlands...

 / #3 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Hartslag||1997||05-04-1997||32||6|| #39 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Altijd dichtbij||1997||05-07-1997||tip2||-|| Ter promotie van KPN
KPN
KPN is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company, including both 2G and 3G mobile operations...

 telefonie /
#49 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Liefde of lust||1997||18-10-1997||tip16||-|| #81 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Wat jij wil||1997||-|||||| #76 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Het laatste moment||1998||-|||||| #86 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Leun op mij||1999||27-03-1999||11||11|| #13 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Kop dicht en kus me||1999||-|||||| #92 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Kruimeltje||1999||-|||||| Titelsong Kruimeltje / #85 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Waar ben je nou?||2000||-|||||| #68 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Onderhuids||2002||-|||||| #93 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Nu het over is||2004||-|||||| met Mark / #37 in de Single Top 100
|-
|align="left"|Als je iets kan doen||06-01-2005||15-01-2005||1(4wk)||9|| als Artiesten voor Azië / #1 in de Single Top 100 / Alarmschijf
|-
|align="left"|Jammer maar helaas||2009||-||||||
|-
|align="left"|Seki Marinda||2009||-||||||
|-
|align="left"|Kom dans met mij||2009||-||||||
|-
|align="left"|Terug bij mij||2009||-||||||
|-
|align="left"|Uit Het Oog, Niet Uit Mijn Hart||04-10-2011||-||TBD||||

External links

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