In showbiz....never say never!!!

Luv': The Phoenix of Dutch pop music

There's no business like show business. Fortunately, never trust the members of a pop group who say they will never reunite after a break-up.....notable exceptions to the rule are The Beatles and ABBA. 

In August 2012, Luv' disbanded after their so-called final show at the Dance Valley Festival. The three singers swore that "they would NEVER perform together" again (see news posted on August 12th, 2012). But this week they announced their comeback (see news posted on March 16th, 2016). 

The Luv' ladies were very active between 1977 and 1981. 12 singles, 4 albums, 13 gold and platinum records, a string of hits scored in a dozen countries, one Dutch export award (Conamus Export Prize), 7 million records sold....It was their heyday.

In March 1981, Luv's management announced their break-up (see article posted on March 4th, 1981). A few months later, the girls took part in a celebrity mutli-sport event and gave a farewell TV performance on "Nederland Muziekland". And Luv's story was supposed to be over.

No-one expected that they would be back on stage.

Here's a recap of their reunions/comebacks/revivals. 

1985: Story (a Dutch celebrity gossip magazine) brought the original trio (Patty Brard, José Hoebee and Marga Scheide) together for a photo session and an interview.

1988: the original members reunited for a one-off performance on a TV charity show. They later planned to record a comeback album with British producers "Stock, Aitken & Waterman" (famous for the hits of Bananarama, Mel & Kim, Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue) but this project never saw the light of day.

1989: Marga trademarked Luv's name and formed a new trio with two other singers: Michelle Gold and Diana van Berlo. Marga's Luv' scored a Top 30 hit ("Welcome To My Party"). In 1990, Carina Lemoine replaced Michelle. This renewed line-up was active until 1992.

Diana, Marga and Michelle (1989)

Marga, Diana and Carina (1991)

1993: Patty, José and Marga got together again to put out the Luv' Gold compilation and Megamix '93 as a single. The anthology peaked at #9 on the Dutch Album Top 100 and spent 18 weeks on the charts. The ladies went on a promo tour through Benelux, Germany and Denmark. They gave live shows until 1996.

2005: Luv' gave a surprise performance at the 60th birthday party of Hans van Hemert (the producer who conceived the girl group). This event made front-page news in the Netherlands.

2006: The original trio had a hectic schedule again (including a guest performance at De Toppers show at the Amsterdam ArenA, the broadcast of a reality TV show on RTL 5, the release of a 4 CD Box and a DVD, many live shows...). The ladies were busy the following years. They gave their so-called final live performance on August 11th, 2012 at the Dutch Valley Festival in Spaarnwoude, NL. 

2013: Brief reunion of the 1980-1981 lineup (José, Marga and Ria Thielsch) at a fan club meeting in Eindhoven on May 25th.

2015: José, Marga and Ria took part in the press launch of their photo book "The Story of Luv" (a project supervised by Peter Boonstra) and the release party with fans. Patty was in conflict with her ex-colleagues due to copyright issues on some pictures. The book was eventually banned. 

2016: On March 16th, De Telegraaf published an article about the umpteenth resurrection of Luv' by José, Marga and Ria. The group intends to perform again and to record new material produced by Juan Cristobal Losada (aka Mr Sonic) from Miama, FL who collaborated previously with top Latin American singers (Shakira, José Feliciano, Ricky Martin, Julio and Enrique Iglesias).