All About LUV' (past, present, future and more): Ria Thielsch: Life after Luv'

The announcement of Chimène van Oosterhout's recruitment as a Luv' singer was breaking news in the Netherlands earlier this year (see news posted on January 4th, 2019). Chimène replaced Ria Thielsch who took part twice in Luv': at first between August 1980 and March 1981 and then between March 2016 and December 2018.

Ria seemed happy with the group's line-up change. "The motivation was gone. In 2016, I accepted to sing with the ladies and I wanted to have fun with them for a couple of years. And we succeeded but then I noticed later that before performances I just couldn’t take the stress. The change in the management didn't improve the situation. So I preferred to quit in a friendly way. I'm 67 years old and I don't have debts. So I don't need Luv' to make a living. We laughed a lot and we enjoyed good moments. That's how I want to think back to it. It was the right time to stop. I wish Chimène as much pleasure as I had," Ria told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Ria's Luv' years (2016 - 2018)
Montage by Co Rnz

Officially, Ria had a pleasant lunch with Marga Scheide and José Hoebee on December 30th, 2018 to discuss her departure from Luv'. A nice picture of the trio was even posted on Facebook to prove it. It seemed that Ria left Luv' without anger.

Ria's final lunch with José and Marga on December 30th, 2018

The fans thanked her for being part of the pop trio and posted many grateful messages on social media. Everybody seemed satisfied in Luv' land....until Ria told another kind of story. She gave two interviews in the Dutch tabloid press. Her negative comments felt like a betrayal for her ex-colleagues.

Ria in Weekend

"Marga and José told lies to the media. Because it didn't happen this way. They wanted to appear nice to the public. According to them, I was the one who left the group and it was my fault. Everybody called me. Some fans asked me: "Why did you leave? Have you let us down?". No! I didn't have any other choice," Ria told Weekend magazine in its January 16th, 2019 issue.

She described Marga as a control freak and didn't appreciate her bossy attitude:

"When we made our comeback in 2016, everything was fine. We did it for our fans and to have fun. We are three adult women. The more we performed the greedier Marga was. She wanted to control everything including outfits that I bought. She trademarked Luv's name. I had to follow her instructions. She imposed a lot of rules. For example, it was decided that "Marga was the one in contact with the press" or "Marga was the one who supervised Luv's wardrobe" or "Marga is the face of Luv". Well, to me it was OK. I only did it for the fans and for fun. Moreover, Marga only provided a few information about the accountancy when I asked her about it".

Here's her version of the last meeting with Luv':

"On December 8th, 2018, it was my last show with Luv'. We were supposed to have a meeting later that month. I was asked to come to Den Bosch for a business talk with the ladies. I didn't want it because it was a hectic month due to Christmas preparations and by the way, I didn't feel well. I suffer from an autoimmune disease and every month I need injections for that. So I told Marga: "I can't come so let's do it in January". She replied: "if you don't come we'll be obliged to stop our relationship!"

The ex-Luv' singer also criticized José: "If Marga orders her to jump off the bridge, José will jump off the bridge. When the sun shines, José is always present because she needs money. But I'm not like her!"

Ria explained that Luv' didn't make her rich: "It cost me a lot of money. We had some issues with our former manager. So we had to pay a lot of legal fees".

The icing on the cake during her talk with Weekend was when she said that "understood Patty Brard"!!!

One week later, Ria gave another tell-all interview in Story magazine to confirm her negative comments.

Now she is very discreet and has retired from show business. She enjoys life with her family and friends (including gossip columnist Jan Uriot and his partner of Leon Vosters (of "Musicals" magazine). Sometimes she posts pictures with her entourage on Facebook: