Milly Scott

Milly Scott
Milly Scott (1966)
Background information
Birth name	Marion Henriette Louise Molly
Born	(1933-12-29) 29 December 1933 (age 83)
Origin	Den Helder, Netherlands
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer

Milly Scott (born Marion Henriette Louise Molly, 29 December 1933, Den Helder) is a Dutch singer and actress of Surinamese origin, best known for her participation in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest. Scott is recognised as the first black singer to take part in Eurovision.

Scott had built up a career as a successful nightclub jazz singer, which led to her being given her own TV show, Scott in de Roos, in 1965. As a result, in 1966, she was given the chance to take part in the Dutch Eurovision selection, where her song "Fernando en Filippo" was a clear winner. Scott went forward to the 11th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Luxembourg City on 5 March, where "Fernando en Filippo" ended the evening in 15th place of 18 entries with votes only from the UK and Ireland, continuing a run of poor Dutch results dating back to 1960. Although "Fernando en Filippo" was something of a novelty song (and was performed as such) at a time when ballads dominated Eurovision, Scott would subsequently claim controversially that her disappointing result was attributable, at least in part, to racism on the part of the voting jurors.

Although she was never a maker of hit records, Scott's jazz-based singing career took her to England, Germany and Sweden in later years. She branched out into acting, and appeared in many stage and television shows, her best-known role being in the 1990s television prison drama Vrouwenvleugel in which she played Baby Miller, a woman trying to come to terms with her racial identity.