Blue diamonds

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The Blue Diamonds (1962)

The Blue Diamonds were a Dutch doo-wop duo that was also successful in German-speaking countries in the 1960s.

biography

Ruud de Wolff (May 12, 1941 - December 18, 2000) and Riem de Wolff (April 15, 1943 - September 12, 2017) were born in Indonesia . Together with their parents, sister and younger brother, they came to the Netherlands in 1949 . At their father's request, they learned to play the guitar and, after being able to accompany themselves while singing, founded a band in the late 1950s . They were discovered during a performance at a cultural festival and in 1959 they received a record deal under the stage name "Blue Diamonds". The first single Till I Kissed You , a cover version of the hit song of the Everly Brothers , sold so well that it was tried with other titles by the Everly Brothers.

The Blue Diamonds (ca.1960–1969)

The producer Jack Bultermann pulled out older titles from the archives, gave them a contemporary arrangement and offered them to the young duo. Even before the tracks appeared on record, the duo were invited to Dutch television, where they presented the track Ramona . This is a title from the 1920s that was a slow waltz at the time . The Blue Diamonds turned it into a brisk foxtrot . It became her greatest success. After the title had already sold 250,000 times in the Netherlands, it was also recorded in German, and the duo had their biggest hit in Germany, for which they also received the gold record . In total, Ramona was published by the Blue Diamonds in five languages, and with the English version the title was able to place itself in the US charts as well as in the British hit lists. Ramona also became a hit in Spain and France . In Germany, the Blue Diamonds have been guests in numerous television shows and have also been seen and heard in two feature films. In the film Ramona , the song of the Blue Diamonds could only be heard briefly at the beginning, where it was sung in full by Willy Hagara .

In 1962 the two were drafted into the military and therefore had to take a break in their careers. But in 1963 they achieved another huge hit with the German recording of Sukiyaki - based on a song by Kyū Sakamoto . In 1965 the Blue Diamonds took part in the German Schlager Festival . Her title Gib dein Wort, Linda Lou reached 6th place. It was also her last title with which she got into the German Schlager parades. In the same year Ruud de Wolff married the Mexican singer Leda Moreno . In 1971, in their native Holland, they were the stars in the musical Ten Million Commandments , which was so successful that it was performed in other countries as well, there too, with the participation of the Blue Diamonds. In Germany the musical became known through a television version. The popularity of the Blue Diamonds was also reflected in successful tours through Europe, Asia and Central America. Her worldwide repertoire is estimated at 130 titles, her record sales amounted to twenty million.

Ruud de Wolff died on December 18, 2000 in Driebergen. His brother Riem then occasionally performed with his son Steffen.

The Blue Diamonds celebrated great success with Ramona (1960)

Discography

Albums (selection)

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
NL NL
1981 Strongly tussen twee werelden NL7 (10 weeks)
NL
1985 De best van ... NL62 (1 week)
NL
1986 25 years NL4 (19 weeks)
NL
1995 35 Jaar The Blue Diamonds NL53 (8 weeks)
NL
2015 The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music NL42 (2 weeks)
NL

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE US US NL NL
1960 Ramona DE1
gold
gold

(7 months)DE 		US72 (5 weeks)
US 		-
Sales: + 1,000,000
1961 Like back then in Paris DE3 (5 months)
DE 		- -
Ahoy-ohé DE11 (4 months)
DE 		- -
A ship goes to Shanghai DE13 (5 months)
DE 		- -
1962 Blue boat of longing DE13 (5 months)
DE 		- -
Angelina, stop crying DE30 (2 months)
DE 		- -
1963 My Sunny Sunshine DE37 (2 months)
DE 		- -
Sukiyaki DE2 (5 months)
DE 		- -
1964 Sweet Lorraine, come back DE36 (1 month)
DE 		- -
Rag mop DE40 (1 month)
DE 		- -
1965 Give your word, Linda Lou DE39 (½ month)
DE 		- -
That'll be the day - - NL9 (13 weeks)
NL
1971 Yes, it is already written in the prophets DE42 (1 week)
DE 		- -

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dennis Jansen: Riem de Wolff (Blue Diamonds) overleden. In: ad.nl. September 12, 2017, Retrieved September 12, 2017 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE US NL albums NL singles
  3. ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 443 .
  4. Jump up ↑ Joseph Murrells: The Book of Golden Discs: The Records That Sold a Million . 2nd Edition. Limp Edition, London 1978, ISBN 0-214-20512-6 , pp. 121 .