Mieke Telkamp

Mieke Telkamp (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmikə ˈtɛlkɑmp]; 14 June 1934 – 20 October 2016) was a Dutch singer. Her career spanned over 50 years, both as a singer and a TV personality. Telkamp's most popular song was the 1971 Dutch version of Amazing Grace, which sold over 1 million copies.

Career

Telkamp had several hits between 1953 and 1967. She became famous in 1953 with a cover of "Here in My Heart", a song made popular in 1952 by Al Martino. She then had success with the songs "Never on Sunday" and "Changing of the tides". She also had a lot of success in West Germany, the biggest hit being "Prego, prego gondeliere", which sold nearly one million copies. She used the name Mieke Telkamp because her surname Telgenkamp was thought to be too difficult for the West German market.

She won first prize, the 'Golden Gondola' at the Venice Festival in 1957. In 1962 she participated in Eurovision Knokke and in 1964 performed in the 'Snip en Snap' Revue.

In 1967, at her doctor's advice, she retired from show business due to abdominal complaints, but in the early 1970s she decided to revive her career. However, she only performed in record, radio and television studios, instead of live.

After Telkamp's return to music, she achieved the biggest success of her career. in 1971 she received her first gold record for "Waarheen, waarvoor" (Where to, what for), a song with original Dutch lyrics by Charles Hille, written to the melody of "Amazing Grace", which sold over a million copies in the Netherlands. Together with De Hi-Five she recorded "Waarheen, waarvoor", conducted by Harry de Groot and arranged by Frank Jansen, who also produced it. For many years it was the most popular song at funerals in the Netherlands.