Today’s classic 1970 song of the day is another foreign import, but not from Britain. “Ma Belle Amie” is from the Dutch band Tee-Set. The single was released in the U.S. in December of 1969 and hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 14, 1970. It was a huge hit worldwide, hitting the top ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK, and the group’s native country, the Netherlands.
“Ma Belle Amie,” written by bandmembers Peter Tetteroo and Hans Van Eijck, was first released in the Netherlands in July of 1969, where it hit #6 on the charts and sold more than 100,000 copies. American producer Jerry Ross, who’d recently imported Shocking Blues’ “Venus” to the States, heard “Ma Belle Amie” when he was touring Europe and was bewitched. He promptly signed the band and released the single worldwide.
The single has a unique sound, partly due to the prominence of the combo organ throughout. There’s also a neat double-time handclapped section in the middle, something you don’t hear every day. All that, plus lead singer Peter Tetteroo’s vaguely accented and uniquely husky voice, made the song stand out from the other memorable hits on the radio during the first few months of 1970.
By the way, that French lyric in the first verse (“Apres Tous les beaux jours je te dis merci merci”) roughly translates to “After all the beautiful days, I say thank you, thank you.” Just in case you were wondering.
Peter Tetteroo formed Tee-Set in 1965 in Delft, Netherlands. The band had numerous hits in their native country (including the Dutch #1 track “She Likes Weeds”) but “Ma Belle Amie” was their only international hit. The group went through numerous personnel changes over the years, disbanded in 1975, briefly reunited in 1978, and got together again in 1983 to tour on the European oldies circuit. (Yes, there’s a European oldies circuit.) Group leader Peter Tetteroo passed away in 2002 of liver cancer; he was just 55 years old.
I don’t have a clip of the group performing on Top of the Pops, because they weren’t British. Instead, here’s a black and white promo video for “Ma Belle Amie” the group shot in 1969. Think of it as MTV before there was MTV.
