Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999
# Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999

The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "One Good Reason" written by Tjeerd van Zanen and Alan Michael. The song was performed by Marlayne. The Dutch broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) organised the national final Nationaal Songfestival 1999 in order to select the Dutch entry for the 1999 contest in Jerusalem, Israel. Ten entries competed in the national final on 14 March 1999 where "One Good Reason" performed by Marlayne was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from an eight-member jury panel and a public vote.

The Netherlands competed in the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 29 May 1999. Performing during the show in position 11, the Netherlands placed eighth out of the 23 participating countries, scoring 71 points.

## Background

Prior to the 1999 contest, the Netherlands had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty times since their début as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, the country has won the contest four times: in 1957 with the song "Net als toen" performed by Corry Brokken; in 1959 with the song "'n Beetje" performed by Teddy Scholten; in 1969 as one of four countries to tie for first place with "De troubadour" performed by Lenny Kuhr; and finally in 1975 with "Ding-a-dong" performed by the group Teach-In. The Dutch least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in the 1968 contest. The Netherlands has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1962 and 1963.

The Dutch national broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), broadcast the event within the Netherlands and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Netherlands has used various methods to select the Dutch entry in the past, such as the Nationaal Songfestival, a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. However, internal selections have also been held on occasion. In 1998, NOS has organised Nationaal Songfestival in order to select both the artist and song for the contest, a method that was continued for the 1999 Dutch entry.

## Before Eurovision

### Nationaal Songfestival 1999

Nationaal Songfestival 1999 was the national final developed by NOS that selected the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1999. Ten entries competed in the competition that consisted of a final on 14 March 1999 which took place at the Studio 22 in Hilversum, hosted by Paul de Leeuw and Linda de Mol and was broadcast on TV2. The first part of the national final was watched by 1.9 million viewers in the Netherlands, while the second part was watched by 1.4 million viewers.

**Competing entries**

227 submissions were received by the Dutch broadcaster following a submission period and ten competing entries were selected. Five of the entries for the competition came from the public submission which occurred through the decision by a selection commission led by Willem van Beusekom, while the remaining five entries came from composers directly invited by NOS.

| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Selection |
| - | - | - | - |
| All Mixed Up | "Forever Night and Day" | Ruben Tewari, Ricardo Leeuwin | Open submission |
| All of Us | "Maybe Love" | Eeg van Kruysdijk, Ed van Otterdijk | Invited by NOS |
| Colors | "Positivity" | John Ewbank | Invited by NOS |
| Deante | "We Don't Live Too Long" | Jerry Wolff, Roger Griffith, Terence Esajas | Open submission |
| Donya | "Before the Clock Strikes 12" | John van Katwijk | Invited by NOS |
| Double Date | "E-Mail to Berlin" | Jeroen Flamman, Jeff Porter, Jan Rot | Open submission |
| Jane | "Dreams" | Tom Bakker, Mark van Toor | Open submission |
| Marlayne | "One Good Reason" | Tjeerd van Zanen, Alan Michael | Open submission |
| Roger Happel | "Where Is the Time" | Tjeerd Oosterhuis | Invited by NOS |
| Tamara | "Coming Home" | Jack Veerman, Jan Keizer, Jan Tuijp | Invited by NOS |

**Final**

The final took place on 14 March 1999 where ten entries competed. The winner, "One Good Reason" performed by Marlayne, was selected by the 50/50 combination of a public televote and the votes of an eight-member expert jury. The viewers and the juries each had a total of 408 points to award. Each juror distributed their points as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 408 points rounded to the nearest integer: 41 points. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show featured 1998 British Eurovision entrant Imaani performing her song "Where Are You?".

Final – 14 March 1999 :

| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | All Mixed Up | "Forever Night and Day" | 19 | 13 | 32 | 8 |
| 2 | Tamara | "Coming Home" | 33 | 50 | 83 | 4 |
| 3 | Colors | "Positivity" | 42 | 26 | 68 | 6 |
| 4 | Jane | "Dreams" | 66 | 30 | 96 | 3 |
| 5 | All of Us | "Maybe Love" | 21 | 9 | 30 | 9 |
| 6 | Donya | "Before the Clock Strikes 12" | 30 | 25 | 55 | 7 |
| 7 | Double Date | "E-Mail to Berlin" | 13 | 6 | 19 | 10 |
| 8 | Roger Happel | "Where Is the Time" | 55 | 27 | 82 | 5 |
| 9 | Deante | "We Don't Live Too Long" | 52 | 51 | 103 | 2 |
| 10 | Marlayne | "One Good Reason" | 77 | 171 | 248 | 1 |

Detailed Jury Votes :

| Draw | Song | F. Bolland | F. Spigt | W. van Diepan | H. van Hoof | H. Langerak | C. Margiono | D. Gorré | S.L. Hopper | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Forever Night and Day" | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 19 |
| 2 | "Coming Home" | 4 | | | 4 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 33 |
| 3 | "Positivity" | 6 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 42 |
| 4 | "Dreams" | 8 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 66 |
| 5 | "Maybe Love" | | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| 6 | "Before the Clock Strikes 12" | 3 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 30 |
| 7 | "E-Mail to Berlin" | 1 | 4 | 8 | | | | | | 13 |
| 8 | "Where Is the Time" | 5 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 55 |
| 9 | "We Don't Live Too Long" | 10 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 52 |
| 10 | "One Good Reason" | 12 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 77 |

### Criticism

As a result of the modified rules for the 1999 contest that allowed participants to perform in any language, a majority of the submitted songs for the national final were in English and the ten selected songs were all performed in English as well. Democrats 66 member Boris Dittrich claimed that "the Dutch language and identity has lost out to commercial considerations" and called on NOS as well as the Dutch State Secretary to influence the submission of Dutch songs in the following years. NOS spokesperson Fred de Vries later explained that language and commercial considerations were not part of the selection criteria for the commission which only chose the finalists based on quality.

## At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the bottom seven countries in the 1998 contest competed in the final on 29 May 1999. On 17 November 1998, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order and the Netherlands was set to perform in position 11, following the entry from France and before the entry from Poland. The Netherlands finished in eighth place with 71 points.

The show was broadcast in the Netherlands on TV2 with commentary by Willem van Beusekom. The Dutch spokesperson, who announced the Dutch votes during the show, was 1998 Dutch Eurovision entrant Edsilia Rombley.

### Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to the Netherlands and awarded by the Netherlands in the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to the Germany in the contest.

