Toni Willé
| Toni Willé | |
|---|---|
Toni Wille at NDR 1 Niedersachsen Oldies, Aurich, Germany, (October 2013)
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| Background information | |
| Born |
26 June 1953 Treebeek, Netherlands |
| Genres | Pop, Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Labels | EMI Bovema |
| Associated acts | Zingende Zusjes (Singing Sisters), The BGs from Holland, Sweet Reaction, Pussycat |
| Website | Toniwilleonline.com |
Toni Willé (full name Antonia Johanna Cornelia Kowalczyk; born 26 June 1953) is a Dutch country pop artist who was lead vocalist of the band, Pussycat.
She was a blonde with a distinctive gap in her upper front teeth. Toni is the daughter of Marie and Stefan Kowalczyk. Stefan was a Polish miner from Wloszczowa, Poland who came to the Netherlands in 1948 to work in the coal mines after serving in the US Army in Germany.
Toni's biological father died from Hodgkin's disease shortly after her birth when her sisters Marianne was two years old and Betty was only one. Five years later her mother, Marie Verheijen, married Stefan Kowalczyk, the Polish miner who brought up Toni and her sisters. He promoted their music talents. When Toni, Betty and Marianne were six, seven and eight, the family moved to Treebeek, a cityquarter in Brunssum in the south-east Netherlands. At the annual children's festivities of Sinterklaas, he bought them each an acoustic guitar and engaged Keuzenkamp as guitar tutor. With guitars they performed during carnivals, talent scoutings and parties as The Singing Sisters. It was during this time that their characteristic close harmony style singing came into being. Their repertoire initially consisted mostly of German pop songs. However they say, this kind of music soon ended with the arrival of the Beatles. A few years later, Keuzenkamp introduced the sisters to 18-year-old Werner Theunissen, a guitarist from 'The Entertainers' whom he got in touch with through an ad in the papers. Werner taught them a lot of new guitar chords and acquainted them with contemporary pop music. It was then that they became a proper girl band with Betty on solo guitar, Marianne on bass, Toni on vocals and a friend Tonny Jeroense on drums.
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Wikipedia