Before Duncan Laurence won Eurovision 2019, she was the reigning Dutch Eurovision winner. But when the line-up of Het Grote Songfestivalfeestthe big Eurovision party in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in December — was revealed, Teach-In’s Getty Kaspers was not on the list.

Talk shows and newspapers called it a scandal, and on social media the announcement also led to backlash. But the outrage had a result: the festival organisers have finally invited the “Ding A Dong” singer to the show.

Last month when Het Grote Songfestivalfeest announced its line-up, there was public outrage when only one of the two surviving Dutch Eurovision winners was on the line-up. Lenny Kuhr was performing but there was no sign of Teach-In lead singer Getty Kaspers.

The expulsion led Beau van Erven Dorens, host of the eponymous talk show Beau, to launch the hashtag #jesuisgetty. However, on the day that the slogan for Eurovision 2020 was revealed, it was also announced that Getty Kaspers would, after all, join the line-up of Het Grote Songfestival!

Getty appeared as a special guest on Beau where she revealed that the organisers never intended to leave her out. On the contrary, they actually were thinking about how to properly include her.

The confusion arose when an early press statement seemed to suggest that Getty would be excluded as it said that former Frizzle Sizzle member Mandy Huydts and Eurovision 1999 contestant Marlayne were to sing “Ding A Dong”.

Het Grote Songfestivalfeest will give the Eurovision winner a bigger role after they saw the outrage of her being possibly excluded. She will not just sing her Eurovision winning song, but will also introduce several other acts on the stage.

After her 1975 win, Austrian-born Getty quickly faded away from the spotlight. She faced a lifelong lack of interest in her work. The singer opened up about her disappointment in early 2019, when AVROTROS was not interested in collaborating with her either in the time running up to Duncan Laurence’s win.

To this day, she regrets she never got anything back for her Eurovision achievement. She never earned a penny as she didn’t write her winning song “Ding A Dong” nor did she ever receive a formal invitation to attend Eurovision as part of the Dutch delegation.

But as this recent situation shows, there is plenty of support for the Dutch Eurovision queen, with plenty of fans hoping that she will have a part to play in Eurovision 2020.

Are you planning to attend Het Grote Songfestivalfeest? Are you happy that Getty Kaspers will sing at this big Eurovision party in Amsterdam? Let us know in the comments below!

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Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
4 years ago

Even if she didn’t launch a career after winning Eurovision, she will ALWAYS have a special spot in my heart as a Eurovision winner (which is huge for me) and hopefully in other fans’ hearts as well
Ding-a-Dong is a great song, always puts a smile on my face and even my non-Eurovision-fans friends liked it a lot 🙂

Lisianthus
Lisianthus
4 years ago

She lived in Austria for years, that is one of the reasons people ‘forgot’ about her. She said after Duncan won that she hasn’t sung in years. I don’t know if her voice will be in a good enough shape to sing again less than 2 months from now. She’s 71, to be able to sound good at that age you really need to train your vocal chords regularly.

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisianthus

She recently performed her song not too long ago and I think she still sounded great in this video of that event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4KxKDOVirQ

Rasmus Bording Irlind
Rasmus Bording Irlind
4 years ago

that poor woman, even if it isn’t much, inviting her to perform is at least something that recognises her victory. old eurovision winners just don’t get that much attention if they aren’t abba.

xelx
xelx
4 years ago

The Israelis on the other hand honored all of their winners when they hosted both in 1999 and 2019. I’d enjoy it if the actual contest in Rotterdam made a nod to past Dutch winners, it doesn’t need to extensive, just like when “Dansevise” was included in the opening sequence of the 2014 final.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago
Reply to  xelx

Sweden has historically been good on that. Ireland too, of course, given how many they’ve had.

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
4 years ago
Reply to  xelx

Yeah, it was really awesome how Israel paid homage to their past winners (along with brining back their very first contestant and the golden boy guy because it was in tel aviv).

Fatima
Fatima
4 years ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Though they didn’t find a place for Alphabeta or Milk and Honey. So in 2020 I want to see not just Kaspers, but all of Teach-In

Rasmus Bording Irlind
Rasmus Bording Irlind
4 years ago
Reply to  xelx

but the olsen brothers weren’t acknowledged and invited at all during the 2014 contest tho, and they weren’t too happy about that either

Fatima
Fatima
4 years ago

Yes I wondered about that too. Why weren’t they invited? Everything about that year was great apart from that.

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

It feels so selective. Prior to the ‘80s or so, they’ll only really recognize ABBA and maybe France Gall or Brotherhood of Man. (Also Volare, which didn’t even win). Depends on the country, I guess, like how many times they’ve won and how big the country is.

Roy Moreno
Roy Moreno
4 years ago

If there’s one thing I really love about Eurovision is that contestants, and especially winners, are always a part this family 🙂
She deserves a huge role at Eurovision alongside Lenny and Duncan (and of course, mentioning Corry and Teddy)
I enjoyed watching all 4 winners of ours this year :3