The legendary Dolly Dots are back!!! They currently give concerts in the Netherlands with their theater tour named "Sisters on Tour" until February 2022. Recently, Franklin van Liempt's independent label CD-licious released "Dolly Dots - The Complete Album Collection and a little bit more", a box set including 141 tracks on ten CDs, of which 58 were previously unavailable on CD. Last year, CD-licious reissued Bonnie St. Claire & José Hoebee's album entitled "Herinnering" (including cover versions of ABBA songs in Dutch) on CD/DVD. On October 5th, Dolly Dots released a new single "Are You With Me?". Earlier this week, the ladies announced that they would give a final show as part of Symphonica in Rosso at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on December 22nd, 2022. Congratulations girls!!!
Dolly Dots were very popular in the Netherlands and Belgium in the 1980s. They took advantage of Luv's first breakup in 1981 to become Holland's greatest girl group. They scored 27 Dutch Top 40 hits (including the #1 single "Love me just a little bit more") between 1979 and 1988. They are more successful than Luv' in their homeland. They had their own TV series and Barbie Dolls. They appeared in an American movie "Dutch Treat" which premiered in 1987. Unlike Luv' and other Dutch girl groups which performed with prerecorded backing tracks, Dolly Dots gave real concerts with a live band. Another favourable factor that explains their bigger popularity is that they never had feuds and tensions within the group, unlike Luv'. The most popular Dolly Dot is Angela Groothuizen, a jury member and a coach on several high-rated TV talent shows (X Factor, The Voice of Holland, The Voice Kids, The Voice Senior, It Takes 2 and Holland's s Got Talent). A drama happened in 2009 when Dolly Dots singer Ria Brieffies passed away.
However, the Dolly Dots impact on the international marketplace is limited compared with Luv'. They never won a Conamus Export Prize (given to Dutch artists like Luv' that sold the most records abroad). Their single "Radio" went gold in Japan. "P.S." was a Top 50 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play hit in 1981 in the USA. In Germany, where Luv' were highly popular, Dolly Dots only scored four moderate singles on the charts: Hela-di-ladi-lo (1980), Leila (1981), PS (1981) and S.T.O.P (1981). They also enjoyed minor hits in Turkey, Lebanon, Iceland, and toured through Egypt. Although the band never got big in the UK, they appeared in 1983 on Top of the Pops. The recording of their single entitled "What A Night" was supervised by the Hit Machine from the 1980s "Stock, Aitken & Waterman" (famous for the hits they produced for Bananarama, Mel & Kim, Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue). This single only peaked at #18 in Holland and #24 in Belgium. It didn't lead to a real breakthrough in Europe.
In 2016, Dolly Dots sang a medley of their classic hits during De Toppers "Royal Night of Disco" concerts at the Amsterdam ArenA. It was their first show since Ria Brieffies' death.
In 2018, Dolly Dots Esther Oosterbeek and Anita Heilker formed a duo named "Just A Little Bit More" to perform on stage for live shows, private parties and corporate events.
In 2019, Esther and Anita joined Patty Brard to perform Luv's signature song "You're the Greatest Lover" at Hans Klok's farewell party.
Marga Scheide, Naomi Broeders, Esther Oosterbeek, José Hoebee and Anita Heilker at the release party of Claudia Schoemacher - Van Zweden's book "Het Rimpeleffect" at the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam on September 6th, 2017
Patty with Esther & Anita at Hans Klok's farewell party on April 13th, 2019
Ria Thielsch with Leon Vosters and Esther Oosterbeek (of Dolly Dots) at the wedding party of Claudia and Frank Zwiers on June 21st, 2019
On October 2nd, Patty Brard reacted to the Dolly Dots comeback on stage on SBS6's entertainment news program Shownieuws which drew 431.000 viewers (market share: 12.5%). "I was jealous when I saw it. I thought: Look, they have fun! I'm so sorry that the same never happened to Luv'," the diva said. According to La Brard, Luv's misfortune is due to the fact that the group is a trio. "During an argument, it's always "one member against the two others". One member is lonely. In Luv's case, I was always the one who was rejected," Patty explained. "I'm so jealous of the Dolly Dots friendship and positivity. What a difference with all the fights I've been through. It's very difficult to be part of a trio," she added.
Source: Dolly Dots on social media, AD, Shownieuws, RTL Boulevard, Superguide...
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