"Ma Belle Amie" - Tee Set

1969 TEE-SET - Ma Belle Amie - stereo version
(H. v. Eijck / P. Tetteroo)

- Release deluxe 4CD box TEE-SET - Mythology (99 remastered tracks)
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/nl/album/myt...
Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/1o9JoCD...

Joop Blom: drums * Franklin Madjid: bass guitar, backing vocals * Hans van Eijck: piano, organ, acoustic guitar * Peter Tetteroo: vocals, backing vocals, drums

Ma Belle Amie had been recorded on eight tracks in the Soundpush studio in 1969. Drummer Joop Blom twisted his ankle during a break, so Peter Tetteroo had to finish playing the drum part. Franklin Madjid played bass, Hans van Eijck piano and organ. Dihl Bennink originally played acoustic guitar, but Peter Tetteroo wasn't satisfied with his performance so Hans van Eijck, who had co-written Ma Belle Amie, decided to play the part instead.

In 1969 the American producer Jerry Ross came to Europe. He was building up his own label, which would be christened Colossus. During his travels he decided to release Ma Belle Amie in the USA. There were many accounts of how the signing of various Dutch groups -- Shocking Blue, Tee-Set and George Baker Selection -- came about. Journalist Oscar van der Kroon heard Peter Tetteroo's version some years later: "One of our fans from Delft took the record with him to Switzerland and had it played in a discotheque. The American record producer Jerry Ross was there at the time and it grabbed his attention. He came to the Netherlands and enquired about us via Jan van Veen of Radio Veronica." Because Ross insisted on recording Ma Belle Amie in stereo, Shocking Blue's Venus was released in the USA first. "When Venus shot to the top of the US charts we started to believe that we could be a success, too."

At the beginning of March 1970 Henk van der Meyden announced in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that three Dutch groups had made it into the American hit parade. Ma Belle Amie finally reached the number three position. It was the first time ever that Dutch music had achieved this sort of success in the USA. Hans Kellerman, director of Negram, the Tee-Set's recording company, explained why: "The famous beat groups that had dominated the American hit parades for many, many years had become so experimental that they were really only making music for themselves. Their records now missed that elusive, intangible quality that had appealed to the mass audience." The Dutch groups had a 'happy sound'; their singles caught on with the young public.