Lydia (Tuinenburg) born 27 April 1940

Lydia Tuinenburg (April 27, 1940 - September 23, 2016) was an Indonesian-Dutch  rock singer from Amersfoort, Holland, active at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Lydia Tuinenburg was born on April 27, 1940 in the port city of Tjilatjap (now: Cilacap) on the south coast of central Java and she left for the Netherlands with her family in 1952. They lived in Apeldoorn at the Rietzangerweg at the time. Her brother Charles, who was one year younger, formed his own group The Melody Strings in 1958. Lydia started singing with the Apeldoorn cabaret company Paljas, of which Ben Steneker was also a part.

In February 1959 Lydia and Ben joined the Melody Strings and with this combination they won a cup during a local talent show. This was followed by performances for radio KRO's Springbord and Radio Hasselt in Belgium. Partly due to this success they were invited to an audition at the record company Bovema in Heemstede. The test recordings pleased producer Frans van Schaik so much that he was able to offer the group a recording contract and also became their manager.

                             

In an old church in Heemstede, which had been converted into a studio, in May 1959 "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On" (1949 composition by Hank Locklin) and "Heartbeat" (Buddy Holly & The Crickets) were recorded. Lydia & The Melody Strings appeared on TV in the program Pas Geperst (NCRV) and their live
performance made a big impression. Lydia became known as “the Dutch Connie Francis “and was invited to join others in the song festival at the Casino Kursaal in Knokke in July 1959.

In the autumn of 1959, there was such a demand for Send Me The Pillow that the record was continuously in the Top 10 of the Netherlands' best-selling singles for nine months in the period from November 1959 to August 1960. Judging by the sales results a gold record of more than 100,000 copies should have been awarded, but that never happened.

Lydis and brother Charles

In the meantime, Lydia and the melody Strings made more recordings including “ Lipstick On Your Collar,” “Your Cheatin 'Heart,” “ It's A Sin”  and “Don't Stop Kissin' Me Godnight. “  Since late 1959, Lydia’s photos appeared monthly in the music magazines of the time, such as Muziek Expres, Muziek Parade, Tuney Tunes and Song-Wereld.  The group travelled with the Teenagers Show of the magazine Muziek Expres from November 1959 (Zoo Hall, The Hague) to April 1960 (Carré, Amsterdam) through a number of large halls through the Netherlands.

The Melody Strings also got a new line-up in late 1959 with Ben Steneker continuing as a solo artist at CNR. In the spring of 1960, Charles and Lydia Tuinenburg moved to Zaandam and The Melody Strings were dissolved. Lydia was accompanied by The Black Dynamites during the last performance for the Muziek Expres Teenagers Show on April 2, 1960 in Carré, Amsterdam.

In the summer of 1960 Lydia came into contact with The Rollers in Zaandam. Frans van Schaik was impressed by the musical performance of this group and because he was aware of the impending emigration of Lydia to America at an early stage, it was decided to record enough material for a number of future singles. 

The record session took place in September 1960 and 9 songs were recorded on that occasion. Four singles were released in late 1960 / early 1961 and the unreleased song I Can't Stop Loving You was found in the EMI / Bovema tire archives for 32 years and released as a super bonus on Lydia's CD by Rarity Records.

Suddenly it ended. In the midst of the flood of performances and a bright future, Lydia had secretly married a record producer Ruud Doulage and gave birth to a son Francis-Gary in October 1960. She left for America on November 22, 1960 and joined her husband 

and son Francis in Costa Mesa, Southern California. The 'Dutch Connie Francis' mainly became an inconspicuous housewife and mother, but what she left behind was a financial mess, because it was simply a breach of contract for the record company, with financial consequences for the artists. Lydia's father took care of these matters and managed to stop any legal action if the artists waived all the money they were entitled to.

In 1965 Lydia returned to the Netherlands for two performances in Apeldoorn.  Another visit was planned for a reunion concert during November 2016 with Ben Steneker, but sadly she died from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage, September 23, 2016 at the age of 76.(Edited from a Google translation from the Apeldoorn blog site Waterloo Station.)