35th anniversary of Marga's Love Symphony

Photo edited by Marco Rens

35 years ago, Marga Scheide released the single entitled "Love Symphony", a medley of The Supremes classic hits. Unfortunately, it was not a success but it achieved a cult status among the fans.

History

After Luv's first break-up in 1981, Marga kept a low profile for several months. José Hoebee and she secretly provided vocals on "Tick-a-thumps my heart", a single by Babe (one of Luv's rivals) which reached the Top 20 in Belgium and the Netherlands in the summer of 1981. 

Marga enjoyed life with her boyfriend, media mogul John de Mol. She also supervised the styling of recording artists (including Babe and José). 

After Patty Brard and José, she was the last to try her luck musically outside of Luv'. In September 1982, she put out the pop single "One, Two, Three...Bananas" with twin sisters Clari and Anja Horsmeier known as "Deuce". Piet Souer (who co-wrote Luv' hits with Hans van Hemert) penned the song and produced it. The record was a flop (see article posted on September 24th, 2017). Marga's partnership with Deuce was short lived. On February 23rd, 1983 The Horsmeier sisters took part in the Nationaal Songfestival (Dutch preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest) which meant the end of their collaboration with Marga. 

On May 16th, 1983, a TV special "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" was broadcast on NBC to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Motown Records (home to successful artists in the 1960s and 1970s: The Supremes, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5...). The impact of this TV show was huge: everybody remembers Michael Jackson performing the "Moonwalk" for the first time and the Soul classics sung by the most significant acts of the legendary label. It caused a revival of interest in Motown's music in the whole world. 

Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Berry Gordy, Smokie Robinson, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and many other artists on "Motown 25"

A string of popular singers (Phil Collins, David Bowie & Mick Jagger, Kim Wilde...) covered early Motown hits in the 1980s. Marga wanted to do the same and paid tribute to America's most successful girl group "The Supremes" fronted by Diana Ross. In late 1983, she teamed up with Jacques Zwart (former member of the rock bands Het and Amsterdam as well as a sought-after producer (Albert West, Gerard de Vries, Mariska Veres, Dennis Christian, Teach-In, Dee Dee, Debbie...). Jacques produced a potpourri of The Supremes hits sung by Marga (Love Child, My World Is Empty Without You, Where Did Our Love Go, I Hear A Symphony and Baby Love). The medley entitled "Love Symphony" was released by Carrere Records in the Netherlands in November 1983. 

Marga performed Love Symphony live on the NCRV radio show "Los Vast" on November 19th, 1983.

Photo courtesy of Marco Rens:

On December 2nd, 1983, she sang the track on VARA's TV program "Vijf Tegen Vijf". 

However, Dutch radio stations seemed to boycott Love Symphony. On December 10th, 1983, the newspaper "Het Vrije Volk" published an article entitled "DJ don't play Marga".

Though Marga's single was a commercial failure in her homeland, it was licensed to Starborn Records in the USA in 1984. Love Symphony got airplay on Black American radio stations. By incorporating R&B infused beats in the music and not including her image on the cover artwork, marketing for the song gave the impression of Marga as a black artist in Uncle Sam's country. That impression did not last long as the singer was asked to appear in a music video to promote her song. It caused the immediate end of the project in America because the performing artist was "as blond as the Dutch dunes" which was not good for the R&B stations which targeted a black audience at the time.  

Click on the image to enlarge it and to read this promotional text

Het Vrije Volk - September 8th, 1984

After the promotion of this track, Marga broke up with John de Mol. Jacques Zwart and she became romantically involved.

Love Symphony appeared on Luv's double CD compilation "25 Jaar Na Waldolala" as a bonus track in 2003.

Release & tracklisting

* 7" Single: Love Symphony - released by CNR/Carrere Records in November 1983 (Netherlands)

Front cover

• A side: Love Symphony (3:27)

Love Child (Sawjer, Taylor, Wilson, Richards) / Interlude (E. Mergency) / My World Is Empty Without You (Holland, Dosier, Holland) / Interlude (E.Mergency) / I Hear a Symphony (Holland, Dosier, Holland)/Interlude (E.Mergency) / Baby Love (Holland, Dosier, Holland)

• B side: Love Symphony (Instrumental) (3:27)

Credits:

Vocals: Marga Scheide
Produced by Jacques Zwart
Recorded at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands
Engineered by Ronald Prent
Photography by Hendrik Jan van Brandwijk

Back cover

* 12" single released by CNR/Carrere - Netherlands, 1983:

• A side: Love Symphony

A1 Love Child 1:03
A2 Interlude 0:20
A3 My World Is Empty Without You 1:02
A4 Interlude 0:06
A5 Where Did Our Love Go 0:45
A6 I Hear A Symphony 1:10
A7 Interlude 0:22
A8 Baby Love 1:27

• B side: Love Symphony (Instrumental)

B1 Love Child 0:45
B2 Interlude 0:10
B3 My World Is Empty Without You 0:35
B4 Interlude 0:06
B5 Where Did Our Love Go 0:23
B6 I Hear A Symphony 0:35
B7 Interlude 0:03

B8 Baby Love 0:50

Remixed by Ben Liebrand

* 12" single released by Starborn Records & Tapes, USA, 1984: 

• A side: Love Symphony (Sawjer, Taylor, Wilson, Richards, Holland, Dosier, Holland, E.Mergency) - 6:15

• B side: In The Night (E.Mergency, T. Rigger, B. Sit) 3:28

Credits:

Engineered by  Ronald Prent (A side) and Albert Boekjolt (B side)
Producer – Jacques Zwart
Remix – Ben Liebrand
Recorded at Wisseloord Studios/Hilversum

* 12" single (Love Symphony/Sinfonia De Amor) released by Discos Musart, Mexico, 1984:

Source: Discogs.com, Beeld en Geluid, Delpher.nl, Marco Rens