Delft circa 1966.
Cafe Cecil on the Voldersgracht was, I think, the only place at the time
where they had live music. "The Shats" (a band put together
by Peter Tetteroo) were also one of the acts featured there. As I was
a big Stones fan myself, I tried, together with some other guys from my
neighbourhood to imitate Mick Jagger as best we could.
Peter Tetteroo, having
known that, invited me over as a guest singer, to do some Stones covers
with him, this resulting in the formation of a brand new band, which,
in the Summer of that same year, was christened "The Tee-Set".
For young musicans
such as ourselves at the time, it was a real dream come true. Making records,
scoring hits and touring all over the country, doing televison prefomances
and going even futher… It became normal for us to play 6 or 7 gigs per
single week at that point.
But, as it happens
quite often, a clash of characters and differences of opinions began to
deter the band from progressing forward. It was nothing new, these things
do happen all the time, and in certain cases this really spells the end
of the band, effectively. This particular breakup, instead, generated
two bands: "Tee Set" and "After Tea", the latter comprising
four former Tee-Set members.
Peter, in turn, found
new musicans for his band very quickly. They all turned out to be competent
players, but it just wasn't the same. After a while, I started visiting
Peter again (at his request), and recording songs together with him as
Tee Set. I also wrote a few new songs. By the time "Do It Baby"
was released as a single, After Tea were finished - at that point, I was
once again appearing on television shows, as part of Tee Set.
Later still, I recorded
"Linda Linda" together with Peter (the group's last big hit):
on it I played bass guitar and sang backing vocals. "Hot Nights"
is another song that I wrote together with Peter; the single (1988) also
featured another Eduard - my daughter Mabel, whose picture you can see
on the cover. So at that point, the Tee Set were back in the spotlight
and on TV, featuring not one but two Eduards! I was very proud.
Everyone expected
a lot from this single, predicting that it would sell big, but it did
not happen.
The Tee-Set was my
first musical love, and I'm immensely proud of my association with this
wonderful band. But we mustn't forget that The Tee-Set was also held together
by Theo Kuppens, who was like a father to us. Theo, rest in peace.
Polle Eduard
Sweet
Mary Lou featuring Mabel Eduard