Milly Scott

Marion Henriëtte Louise Molly (born 29 December 1933),[1] known professionally as Milly Scott, is a Dutch singer and actress of Surinamese origin, best known for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966. She is recognised as the first black singer ever to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest.[2]

Milly Scott
Scott in the Snip en Snap Revue in 1970
Background information
Birth nameMarion Henriëtte Louise Molly
Born (1933-12-29) 29 December 1933
Den Helder, Netherlands
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Associated actsMilly & The Sisters Scott
Websitewww.millyscott.nl
Scott (right) with Jennie Veeninga and Rob de Nijs during a television broadcast in 1963

Early life

Scott was born in Den Helder, the main base of the Royal Netherlands Navy, where her father was stationed as a marine.[3] Both her parents were immigrants from the Dutch colony of Surinam, while here paternal grandfather was originally from North Brabant.[1] As the first black family in Den Helder and the only black child in kindergarten, she often experienced discrimination while growing up.[1][3]

In the beginning of World War II, the ship HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau was bombed, severely wounding Scott's father, after which the family moved to Amsterdam.[3] Soon after, her father was summoned by the Nazis and taken to Germany as a prisoner of war.[1][3] The Red Cross later informed the family that he had died there.[3]

Having learned to play the piano during the war, Scott started giving performances to financially support her mother after her father's death.[1] At the age of 14, she began singing in amateur bands and was eventually given a scholarship to study at the conservatory in Amsterdam.[3] However, she dropped out due to the intense racism and bullying she experienced during her studies.[1][3]

Career

Early career

In 1953, at the age of 19, Scott was asked by Dutch comedian Toon Hermans to perform in one of his shows.[3] According to Hermans, the name Milly suited her better than her birth name Marion.[3] Following her mother's advice not to use her real surname, she then came up with the stage name Milly Scott.[3] After performing in front of a big audience for the first time, she quickly built up a career as a jazz singer, with Lou van Rees as her impresario.[3]

Working as a singer, she lived in Hamburg, West Germany since 1954, and later moved to Sweden where she stayed for five years.[1][3] In Gothenburg and Stockholm, she shared the stage with world-famous artists, such as Judy Garland and Quincy Jones.[3][4] Furthermore, she maintained a close friendship with Swedish-Dutch singer Cornelis Vreeswijk, whom she regularly visited at his home in Lidingö.[3]

Eurovision Song Contest
Scott performing "Fernando en Filippo" at the Nationaal Songfestival in 1966

Scott owes her successes in the Netherlands to the influential entertainment journalist Henk van der Meijden, who had found out about her career in Sweden and wrote an article about her in De Telegraaf.[3][4] This led to numerous appearances on national television and she was even given her own television show in 1965, named Scott in de roos (after the phrase schot in de roos, meaning "bullseye").[3][4]

In 1966, Scott was asked to participate in the Nationaal Songfestival, the Dutch national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.[3] She went on to win the national final with the song "Fernando en Filippo", written by Gerrit den Braber and composed by Kees de Bruyn. This gave her the right to represent the Netherlands in the eleventh edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Luxembourg City. Her entry received a total of two points from the international juries, placing fifteenth out of eighteen songs.[5]

Although "Fernando en Filippo" was something of a novelty song (and was also performed as such) at a time when ballads dominated in the competition, Scott would later claim that her disappointing result was attributable, at least in part, to racism on the part of the voting jurors.[3][6]

After Eurovision
Scott as Baby Miller in 1994

Although Scott never produced any hit records, her jazz-based singing career brought her to Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom in later years. She also branched out into acting and appeared in many theater and television shows, her best-known role being in the RTL 4 drama series Vrouwenvleugel (1993–95) in which she played Baby Miller, a prisoner trying to come to terms with her racial identity.[4][7]

Discography

EPs
  • 1966 – "Fernando en Filippo"

Singles
  • 1958 – "Melodie d'amour" / "Africa"
  • 1963 – "Up a Lazy River" / "Crawdad Song" (with The Beale Street Jazzband)
  • 1963 – "Je hebt m'n leven stukgemaakt" / "Ik kus jouw ring"
  • 1964 – "Kom huil dan" / "Ik moet verder"
  • 1964 – "Zonder jou ben ik niets" / "Nee..."
  • 1964 – "Hello Dolly" / "Hush-a-by Ma Baby"
  • 1965 – "Als een kind" / "Zeg 's eerlijk"
  • 1966 – "Fernando en Filippo (Tong-tiki-tong)" / "Graag of niet"
  • 1966 – "Fernando en Filippo" / "Onvoltooide symfonie"
  • 1966 – "Fernando y Felipe" / "Ya no me quieres"
  • 1966 – "Fernando and Filippo" / "Don't Make a Fool of Me"
  • 1966 – "Liefde smeult, liefde groeit, liefde bloeit, liefde stoeit" / "B.B. met R."
  • 1966 – "Guantanamera" / "La Bamba"
  • 1967 – "Who Cares" / "I'm Laughing Up the Sleeve"
  • 1971 – "Get High on Jesus" / "Sunshine in My Rainy Day Mind"
  • 1972 – "Spanish Harlem" / "Zeg hem dat de sneeuw valt"
  • 1979 – "Pata Pata" / "I Was Just Like a Child"

As part of Milly & The Sisters Scott
  • 1965 – "Come Over to My Place" / "Silver Dollar"
  • 1966 – "Baby, Did I Do You Right" / "St. Louis Blues"

Filmography

Film

Television
gollark: As a bourgeoisie, I own three houses and a flat in central London which I can flee to in case of mobs.
gollark: The hard part is just working out which coordinates correspond to a particular person.
gollark: See, I can actually do that easily by taking the Cartesian product of some sets.
gollark: I'll leak *everyone's* coordinates.
gollark: I apologize proactively retroactively for the unfortunately imperfect accuracy of indoor GPS and/or mobile network location.

References
  1. "In gesprek met Milly Scott". Universal Peace Federation (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  2. Mutsaers, Lutgard (2003). "De nieuw-Nederlandse afvaardiging naar het Songfestival 1964-2001". In Buikema, Rosemarie; Meijer, Maaike (eds.). Cultuur en migratie in Nederland. Kunsten in beweging 1900-1980 (in Dutch). The Hague: Sdu Uitgevers. pp. 329–344. ISBN 90 12 09775 4.
  3. "Biografie". millyscott.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  4. "De 'Niemand Houdt Van Mij' – battle". Ondergewaardeerde Liedjes (in Dutch). 15 October 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  5. "Netherlands 1966". ESC-History.com. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  6. "Milly Scott". Koppop!. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  7. "Vrouwenvleugel". IMDb. Retrieved 28 May 2020.


Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Conny Vandenbos
with "'t Is genoeg"		 Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
1966		 Succeeded by
Thérèse Steinmetz
with "Ring-dinge-ding"
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