Frizzle Sizzle
Encyclopedia
Frizzle Sizzle were a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 teenage girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 of the 1980s. The four members of the group were Karin Vlasblom (born August 10, 1967), Laura Vlasblom (born October 8, 1968), Mandy Huydts (born April 9, 1969) and Marjon Keller (born June 1, 1970).

Early years: Kinderen voor Kinderen

The girls debuted in 1981 on the second album of Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen is a Dutch children's choir maintained by public broadcaster VARA. The name translates as "children for children".Since 1980 the choir has released one album of new children's songs each year, and is probably the only act from the 1980s with consecutive albums in the top 40...

, a children's choir whose ongoing television-shows are broadcast by VARA
VARA (broadcaster)
The Omroepvereniging VARA is a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system, founded in 1925 as the Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs...

 each November. All four of them were given a lead vocal; Karin in Gastarbeider (a song about a forbidden love between a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 girl and a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 boy), Mandy in Bijna brugklas (about the transition from primary to secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

) and Marjon in Roken, an anti-smoking tirade. Laura sang Verlegenheid (a reminder that shyness hits everyone at one moment) in an embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...

nic line-up of Frizzle Sizzle (minus Marjon). Due to their age (13 was the maximum), the Vlasblom sisters left after the second album; Mandy and Marjon paid further contributions to the third album. The former sang Johnny mijn pony (about being in love with her pony), the latter Op de wip (about being stuck in the middle between a pain-in-the-neck brother and a bossy sister). Marjon left after the fourth album on which she had minor roles in two tracks; Iedereen gaat voor z'n beurt (Nobody waits his turn) and Ziek zijn (which sums up the joys of pretending to be sick to miss a day of school). She also sang the first half of the call-for-exercise Trim trim trim.

Breaking out and breaking through

In 1984 the girls appeared on the fifth show to tell that they formed a girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 and sang about their days with the choir as a bridge between the interviews with the departures and the new batch of songs. Marjon contributed to the volumes 5 and 6 as a backing vocalist.

Naming themselves Frizzle Sizzle they were selected to represent the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986
Eurovision Song Contest 1986
The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 3 May 1986 in the Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway. It was the first occasion on which Norway played host to the contest...

 with Alles heeft een ritme (Everything has rhythm), a tropical-tinged song in the classic Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen is a Dutch children's choir maintained by public broadcaster VARA. The name translates as "children for children".Since 1980 the choir has released one album of new children's songs each year, and is probably the only act from the 1980s with consecutive albums in the top 40...

-mould. At the end of the night, they ranked 13th out of 20, receiving 40 points. In the Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 charts, the song went to #21.

Soon afterwards Frizzle Sizzle released songs in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 (Never Give Up being the first). In early 1987 they had a #14 hit with Talk it Over, which drew comparisons with established girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 Dolly Dots
Dolly Dots
Dolly Dots were a popular Dutch girl band in the 1980s. With their style of upbeat dance/pop, they scored many hits throughout Europe. The sextet consisted of Angela Groothuizen, Angéla Kramers, Anita Heilker, Esther Oosterbeek, Patty Zomer and Ria Brieffies....

. Second Chance reached #38 the same year. Frizzle Sizzle were joint winners of the 1987 Silver Harp Awards for new bands with their first and only album First Date.

In 1988 the girls once again paid tribute to their past by singing a song about their first bycicle-ride (backed by an on-location video) for the Peter Faber-host educational series Mijn Eerste Keer (My First Time).

Solo activities

In 1990 they broke up but not before lending their voices to the Herman van Veen
Herman van Veen
Hermannus Jantinus "Herman" van Veen is a Dutch stage performer, actor, musician and singer/songwriter and author. He is most famous as the creator of the Dutch-Japanese cartoon Alfred J...

-created cartoon series Alfred J Kwak and releasing the World Cup-themed Alles Is Oranje (Everything Is Orange). The girls remained active in showbusiness.
  • Karin made television programmes.

  • Laura pursued a solo-career and was married to boyband singer- turned-music
    Music
    Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

    al actor
    Actor
    An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

     Bastiaan Ragas
    Bastiaan Ragas
    Bastiaan Johannes Ragas is a Dutch singer and actor. Born in Lisse, he was the youngest of three brothers. Ragas learnt piano and guitar at school. He also participated and traveled with the international musical group Up With People during their 1989-1990 tour...

    . (She also does Dutch voice-overs & songs for many characters in animated movies. For example, she voiced Gloria in Madagascar, Prinses Jasmine in Aladdin, Thumbelina in Thumbelina
    Thumbelina
    "Thumbelina" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Traveling Companion" in the second installment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. "Thumbelina" is about a tiny girl and...

     (1994), Robyn Starling in Tom and Jerry: The Movie
    Tom and Jerry: The Movie
    Tom and Jerry: The Movie is a 1992 American animated musical film directed by Phil Roman, and produced by Film Roman and Turner Pictures. It is a film adaptation of the Tom and Jerry series of theatrical shorts....

     & Ariel in The Little Mermaid). In 1992 Laura participated in the Dutch heat of the Eurovision Song Contest
    Eurovision Song Contest
    The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

     with the song Gouden Bergen (Gold Mountains); she had to settle for silver as it reached the second spot. In 1999 Laura appeared on RTL's live-music programme De Vrienden van Amstel; she performed three songs (two covers, one original) backed by Dutch-Moluccan percussion-rockers Massada
    Massada (band)
    Massada is a Dutch-Moluccan band named after the Jewish town long besieged by the Romans. The members combine their Moluccan heritage with Latin-percussion rhythms. The line-up has changed through the years with lead singer Johny Manuhutu being the sole constant member.-Early years:Johnny Manuhutu...

    .

  • Mandy Huydts became a backing vocalist for arena
    Arena
    An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...

    -filling megastar Rene Froger
    René Froger
    René Froger is a Dutch singer.He was born and spent his first years in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood in Amsterdam. His father, Bolle Jan, had a cafe that Froger started performing in. He began with Ted de Braak and Mini en Maxi and in 1987 he released his first single, Love Leave Me...

     but released her own material in between commitments.

  • Marjon Keller, now hosting radio-shows as well as doing voice-overs for RTL
    RTL 4
    RTL 4 is a commercial television station in the Netherlands. It is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. The station has three sister tv channels: RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8...

    , always insisted on not being lived by stardom
    Stardom
    Stardom is a 2000 Canadian film written by J.Jacob Potashnik & Denys Arcand and directed by Denys Arcand and starring Jessica Paré and Dan Aykroyd. It tells the story of a young girl who tries to cope with her rise to stardom after being discovered by a fashion agency...

    . Back in 1988 she was quoted "It (was) fun being part of Frizzle Sizzle, but there are more things in life".


In 1995 former members of Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen
Kinderen voor Kinderen is a Dutch children's choir maintained by public broadcaster VARA. The name translates as "children for children".Since 1980 the choir has released one album of new children's songs each year, and is probably the only act from the 1980s with consecutive albums in the top 40...

 were invited to attend the 15th show (hosted by Paul de Leeuw
Paul de Leeuw
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA...

). The ex-Frizzle Sizzles were notably absent, but they later compensated by making an in-crowd appearance at De Leeuw
Paul de Leeuw
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA...

's own TV-show. "Still barefoot
Barefoot
Barefoot is the state of not wearing any footwear. Being barefoot is regarded as a human's natural state, though for functional, fashion and social reasons footwear is worn, at least on some occasions...

 ?" he asked, referring to their 1986-image. The girls, then in their late-twenties, gave a confirming answer.
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