30th anniversary of a magical moment: Luv's reunion on "Samen"

Thirty years ago, on October 27th, 1988, an important chapter in Luv's career happened on Dutch television. Every fan of Holland's greatest girl group remembers this special moment. 

The original line-up of Luv' (Patty Brard, Marga Scheide and José Hoebee) took everybody by surprise when they appeared on "Samen", a TV charity show hosted by Mies Bouwman on AVRO. They sang their signature song "You're the Greatest Lover". 

Luv' & Mies Bouwman

Their former producer Hans van Hemert even greeted them backstage. 

Luv' and Hans van Hemert

This reunion happened in a special context. The original Luv' singers hadn't performed together for eight years. In the summer of 1980, after scoring hit after hit in a dozen countries, Luv' experienced troubles. Patty was replaced by Ria Thielsch. The renewed trio scored a Top 5 hit ("My Number One") in the Netherlands and Belgium in late 1980. In March 1981, Luv' disbanded for the first time. No-one expected at the time that there would be several comebacks of the group. 

Patty Brard in 1982

After having a solo hit single "Hold On To Love" in Benelux and South Africa in early 1981, Patty later found her salvation on TV as a presenter. From 1983 to 1985, she co-hosted the high-rated Candid Camera-like show "Bananasplit" with Ralf Inbar on TROS channel. Thanks to her highly influential husband, record producer and music publisher Carlo Nasi, she presented the 1985 edition of the San Remo Festival with Pippo Baudo in Italy on RAI Uno. This music program averaged 20 million viewers. However, Patty didn't have a great career in Dante's country. In 1986 and 1987, she briefly hosted "Bingo", a music chart program on BRT in Belgium. Miss Brard achieved a tour de force when she was the cover girl of the Dutch edition of Playboy magazine in January 1988.

José Hoebee in 1982

During the 1980s, José Hoebee was the ex-Luv' girl who had the most successful career in the music business. She chose a repertoire composed of a majority of cover versions. In 1982, she scored two smash hits in the Netherlands and Belgium: "I Will Follow Him" (originally performed by Little Peggy March in 1963) which hit the number one spot and "Secret Love" (originally performed by Doris Day in 1953) which peaked at #11 on the Dutch Top 40 and #3 on the Belgian BRT Top 30. 

In 1984, José covered Leonard Cohen's So Long Marianne with Patty Brard's ex-husband Ron Brandsteder. It reached #11 on the Dutch Top 40 and #20 on the Belgian BRT Top 30. Then she teamed up with Bonnie St. Claire to form an occasional duo known as "Bonnie & José" to perform Dutch versions of ABBA songs. Their duets "Cassandra" and "Zoals Vrienden Doen" (The Way Old Friends Do) became Top 40 hits in Holland. 

Bonnie & José appeared with other Dutch artists (including Marga Scheide, Benny Neyman and Ron Brandsteder) on ABBAcadabra, a TV musical for children based on songs of the "Swedish Fab Four" which aired on TROS channel in March 1985. After the birth of her son Tim, José decided to slow down her career.

Marga Scheide

After Luv's demise, Marga Scheide supervised the styling of bands and singers (including José). In 1982, she was the lead member of the short-lived girl group "Marga & Deuce" which recorded the unsuccessful single "One, two, three Bananas" (written and produced by Piet Souer). In 1983, Marga released "Love Symphony", a medley of The Supremes classic songs produced by Jacques Zwart with whom she became romantically involved. This track was not a hit but got airplay on Black American radio stations. Her next singles "Love Again" (1985) and "I'll Sing You A Song" (1986) failed to break into the charts. She also did sporadic photo shoots for magazines. In the mid-1980's, in addition to her artistic activities, she ran a souvenir shop "Dutchy souvenirs" at the Holiday-Inn in Utrecht.

Luv' in 1985

When the ladies were interviewed separately in the press, they often discussed their glorious past with Luv'. Patty was not on speaking terms with Marga and José. She communicated through lawyers with her former colleagues. InterLUV' (the group's limited company created in 1979) filed a lawsuit against Miss Brard due to her departure from Luv'. Her shares were purchased. She won the suit and got 400.000 Dutch guilders. A reconciliation was out of the question. But in early 1985, Story (a Dutch celebrity gossip magazine) brought the trio together for a photo shoot and an interview. The three singers graced the cover of the February 1985 issue. 

After Luv's unique performance on Samen, the press announced that the ladies were planning a comeback. British hit machine of the 1980s "Stock Aitken & Waterman" (whose artist roster featured Rick Astley, Mel & Kim, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Bananarama) were rumoured to produce an album for the girls. However, nothing materialized with The Hit Factory. 

In 1989, Luv' reunited effectively but not the way it was supposed to be. But that's another story...

Source: Luv' blog archives, Martin Vink, Marco Rens, Jos Theuns