Teach In

Teach In, the Dutch victors at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest, came together in Enschede during 1969. Their founding roster featured the twin vocalists Hilda Felix and Henk Westendorp alongside guitarist John Snuverink, bassist Frans Schaddelee, keyboard player Koos Versteeg, and drummer Rudi Nijhuis. The group never maintained a fixed roster, so that by 1972 only Versteeg and Nijhuis were still present; they were then joined by vocalists Gettie Kaspers and Ard Weenink, guitarist Chris de Wolde, and bassist John Gaasbeek. Rising domestic popularity brought three Top 20 hits across 1974, after which the band entered the Eurovision competition. Their winning entry, “Ding A Dong,” registered strongly throughout Europe, and the ensuing two years found the musicians almost constantly on tour. Persistent personnel shifts nevertheless plagued the outfit, among them Kaspers’s exit to pursue a solo career; by 1977 the lineup had settled around Versteeg, Nijhuis, de Wolde, bassist Nick de Vos, and singers Betty Vermeulen and Marianne Wolsink. The following year Teach In disbanded. Nijhuis and Versteeg revived the name in 1980, producing another clutch of hits before the project again collapsed; in 1997 the original members reconvened.