Liesbeth List

Elisabeth Dorathea "Liesbeth" List (born Driessen; December 12, 1941 – March 25, 2020) was a Dutch singer. She became popular during the 1960s and frequently collaborated with Ramses Shaffy. She also sang Jacques Brel's chansons in Dutch translation.

Biography

Early life

List was born in Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), as Elisabeth "Elly" Dorathea Driessen. Her parents were separated in 1942 when during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, her father was forced to work in coal mines. Elly and her mother were sent to one of the many camps set up exclusively to imprison Dutch occupants of Indonesia; such camps were known under the Dutch nickname "jappenkamp" (Jap-Camp). The circumstances in which Elly and her mother lived in the camp were very hard on her mother, who developed depression. When the Japanese capitulated at the end of WWII Elly and her mother were set free. They were reunited with their father and husband, but a few weeks later, Elly's mother committed suicide.

Elly and her father returned to the Netherlands, where her father remarried. His new wife, however, frequently clashed with Elly. At the age of seven, children's services took Elly away. It was thought her father was deceased, and she was placed in an orphanage. After it was revealed her father was still alive, she was placed back with her father and stepmother.

In 1948, during a trip to the Dutch island of Vlieland, Elly's stepmother was told that the owner of a hotel on Vlieland and his wife were seeking to adopt a child. Elly was subsequently given up by her father and adopted by this couple, whose surname was List.