Emerging from the unlikely setting of the ancient Dutch City of Delft, Tee Set are one of Holland's most successful pop groups ever. Still active today, and enjoying fine support from not just die-hard fans, but also a whole new generation of "Tee-Setters", the group's, guiding light since its birth in the mid-sixties has been the inspirational Dutch pop hero Peter Tetteroo.
Peter, who still lives in the family home in Delft, was born into a large family of seven brothers and four sisters. His early love of music paved the way for his first taste of the "music business" in 1960 with Delft based group The Defenders. He was only thirteen at the time. Between studying and making music, Peter was also holding down a job waiting tables at the Restaurant Cecil in Delft owned by Theo Kuppens. He begged and ultimately succeeded in persuading the less than enthusiastic Kuppens to allow The Defenders to perform at The Cecil, and it wasn't long before the restaurant owner recognised Tetteroo's obvious singing talents and agreed to manage him and the group.
Although The Defenders had built a local fan base, commercial success eluded them and in 1962 the group were forced to split when an offer to turn professional and tour Germany was turned down by Peter Tetteroo under pressure from his parents, who felt their son was too young to go on the road. The rest of The Defenders left for Germany, so Tetteroo found himself looking for a new band and a new name. He tried various lineups, the eventual and most influential consisting of: George Barendse (bass guitar), Carry Janssen (drum s), Robbie "Bambi'' Plazier (keyboards), Gerard "Gerry" Romeyn (lead guitar) and Robbie "Polle" Eduard (rhythm guitar). The group called themselves The Shats.
During the next two years - performing at The Cecil and at Theo Kuppens' other restaurant, The Trocadero, in Antwerp - The Shats learned and perfected their craft. The fan base they built in and round Antwerp was to prove invaluable later in their career when, having changed their name to Tee Set, they went to number 1 in Belgium. Sometime in 1964 the boys and manager Theo Kuppens felt they were ready to secure a recording contract. There was a lot of potential record company interest, but they chose to audition for EMI Holland.
Arriving at EMI's Bovema Studios in Heemstede, the band set up and proceeded to play and record their live set, which at the time featured a lot of R&B influenced material. The audition was a failure, however, with the record company refusing to explain why.
"I guess they just weren't ready for our brand of music," Peter still reckons. "Like many British labels, EMI Holland had this policy of sticking with the tried and tested pop acts of the time. We were just too radical for them..." (Peter was later to work at the very same studio where he was always introduced to visiting dignitaries as "one of our top producers": how times change!)
Undaunted by EMI's rejection, The Shats continued as a five-piece, when George Barendse suddenly left due to family pressures. Still in demand as a live act, they moved to a prestigious venue, The Star Club, in the Dutch resort town of Scheveningen. By playing a residency they hoped to gain a lot more attention. They did, right from the beginning, as the sound from the club used to escape via the ventilation system into the street - a free form of promotion which was soon to see audiences queuing around the block to hear the band's crowd-pleasing brand of R&B and pop. With the advent of Pirate Radio and ships like Veronica and London, the sound of the airwaves and public tastes were beginning to alter. The Shats' originality was seen as a welcome change from the safe cabaret style live music that for so long had dominated the Dutch club scene. The power and the influence of the off-shore radio stations were soon to enable groups like Tee Set to reach a massive audience.
It wasn't long before other club owners in Scheveningen were attempting to lure The Shats to their establishment. This eventually happened when the owner of the Top Ten Club , which was ironically located above the Star Club, persuaded the boys to perform. Club Owner Rudy Arkebout couldn't believe his luck; where the club-goers had previously queued around the block, they now queued two deep. The likes of this had never been seen in Scheveningen before.
Good news travels fast and soon the media, the record business and the celebrity brat-pack were hot-footing it to The Top Ten to catch the group. Suddenly every A&R person came out of the woodwork, contracts in hand. Manager Theo Kuppens recalls saying: "The first serious offer to get the group recording within two weeks, secures the deal." Producer Cees De Man from the-then-independent Negram/Delta record company was the person to first come up with a concrete offer, but there were those with ulterior motive, trying to muscle in. Cees Van Leeuwen, the manager of top Dutch group The Motions, was the prime mover. According to Peter Tetteroo, he was pursuing his own hidden agenda. Although van Leeuwen appeared to be helping Theo Kuppens in his dealing with Negram (The Motions having already been signed to the label), he was in actual fact trying to lure The Shats away from Kuppens, and into his own management camp. There was the promise of a potential hit song penned by The Motions guitarist Robbie Van Leeuwen, who'd already had considerable success as a songwriter. The song in question was "Early in the Morning", which was greeted with great enthusiasm from the band, their record company and management alike.
The group, however, refused Cees Van Leeuwen's offer of management and stayed loyal to Theo Kuppens. Kuppens was and still is a very astute manager, guiding Peter and various Tee Set line-ups from one success to another in Europe, the U.S. and Australia; he still looks after Peter's interests today. Cees van Leeuwen's offer refused, the band set about recording "Early In The Morning" anyway. The recording was planned for June 1966 at the renowned GTB Studios in The Hague. It was at this time that all concerned were starting to have doubts about the name. Until certain linguistic (or perhaps sanitary) secrets of the English language were unveiled to Peter Tetteroo by an Australian student friend, the group had apparently been unaware that 'shat' is the past tense of 'shit'.
Whatever they may have thought he name on their posters really meant, it had to go; following a short period as The Delft Blues, after much deliberation, 'Tee Set' was agreed upon. Not that this by any means meant the end of linguistic confusions. 'Tee Set' is easily confused with Tea Set - and easily hyphenated, which is also incorrect. So is writing "the" in front of the name. In fact, Tee Set is derived from the golf term, 'to tee off'. The group's American record label Colossus used a set of four golf tees as a promotion gift for Tee Set's second US single, "If You Do Believe In Love"!
The recording of "Early In The Morning" proved a success, Peter was given the first acetate copy on his 19th birthday in July 1966, and in August the same year the record saw its official release.
This is where the roller-coaster ride began for Tee Set. Overnight their debut record became a turntable hit, being played on every Dutch radio station. Although it only peaked at number 27 in the national charts, Tee Set were now really unstoppable, in demand for TV, radio and live performances. "Early In The Morning" was (at least officially) produced by Cees de Man, whilst the supervision of Tee Set's second record, "Believe What I Say", was left in the hands of Radio Veronica disc jockey Jan Van Veen. Neither of them were perhaps the world's most seasoned record producers. As manager Theo Kuppens quite rightly puts it: "The only thing these people were capable of producing was the hole in the centre of the record!"
This raises the dubious subject of who actually produced those early hits. As was often the case, the combined creative input from the band and their recording engineer was the essential ingredient for that elusive hit record. These were the days when record companies assigned a producer to a project, leaving little or no say to the artiste. Nevertheless, Robbie van Leeuwen's second composition for Tee Set, "Believe What I Say" reached number 31 in the Dutch charts.
At this time, Hans Van Eijck, a multi-instrumentalist who had previously been working with the Shats as a dep-keyboard player, reappeared on the scene. Tee Set's keyboard player Robbie Plazier was soon to fulfill his military service obligation, and enlist in the Dutch Army, so he was going to be ultimately unable to continue as a member of the group. When the time came, it was decided to ask Hans van Eijck to deputise once again.
Peter Tetteroo remembers: "Hans really wanted to join Tee Set, but he was still under contract to a certain Circus Toni Boltini, where he played the guitar in the house band, Jumping Pop-In. They were the backing group for Dutch Pop stars Rob De Nijs and Johnny Lion, who were appearing in the cabaret section of the show."
Tee Set were now about to commence the recording of their first album. "At the same time, Hans van Eijck was fast becoming a successful songwriter." Peter Tetteroo continues, "so he was keen both to join Tee Set and for us to cover his songs. In the event, Robbie Plazier played on the album and Hans van Eijck had four of his songs covered. Hans also played on his featured track, but only as a guest session musician. Contractual obligations still prevented him from joining us as a member." The album, which was to be titled "Emotion", was another superb GTB Studios recording, this time produced and supervised by Theo Kuppens and the hand. The LP had a strong R&B feel and sound and featured, alongside original material, great covers of songs like The Animals' "For Miss Caulker" and Wilson Pickett's "Midnight Hour". Peter Tetteroo contributed a fine composition, "Jet Set", but the hit in waiting was a song put together by manager Theo Kuppens, "Don't You Leave", which was based on a traditional blues tune. The album also had some classy horn parts from session musicians Herman Schoonderwalt and Cees Smal.
Recorded in November 1966 and released in December of the same year, "Emotion" ultimately sold in excess of 42,000 copies. Rob Out, then a disc jockey for pirate radio station Radio Veronica and owner of a record shop in Amsterdam's famous shopping street Kinkerstraat, was amazed how customers queued outside his shop to buy the new Tee Set album! "Don't You Leave" was intended for release as a single in December 1966 and a master was assembled featuring "Just Another Hour", a Van Eijck song taken from the album. The release, however, got delayed until the following month, the reason being a desire to record a new B-side, a Van Eijck composition titled "Long Ago", which wasn't included on the "Emotion" album.
"Long Ago" was a strong track in its own right, so the hope was that it would give the record extra radio play. In the event it did, giving the record double A-side status. [In fact, Tee Set still often open their show with "Long Ago", which has remained a firm favourite with the fans.] "Don't You Leave" was a huge hit in Holland, helped on its way by the support of pirate radio station Veronica and its programme director Willem Van Kooten, who in his DJ role as Joost De Draaier, was a great Tee Set supporter. Van Kooten has since become a significant figure in the Dutch music business, with both publishing and record label empires.
"Don't You Leave" stayed in the Dutch charts for 22 weeks and reached number 9. Van Eijck had already appeared on the single's cover (his photograph hastily superimposed cut out style), when his contractual complications with Herman Bartelaan and Circus Boltini were suddenly resolved following negotiations by manager Kuppens. Van Eijck then officially joined Tee Set.
Another personnel change was on the horizon when guitarist Gerry Romeyn (real name: Gerard Romeijn - a lot of Dutch musicians for some reason change their names into something more English sounding!) quit the group to join The Hague based band The Motions, who were also hot at the time. Romeyn's reasons for leaving remain a little unclear, but he has always been a bit of a gypsy rover and tends to have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. Even today he has a duo act, runs a recording studio and has various other business interests. Romeyn's influence on Tee Set was, like Polle Eduard's, quite considerable. Both players have a strong love of blues, which is more than evident on their early recordings. A replacement for Romeyn now needed to be found, and so Tetteroo contacted English guitarist Ray Fenwick, who was an old friend of both himself and Gerry Romeyn. Romeyn's and Fenwick's paths had crossed several years earlier in Munich, Germany, in 1962. Both had then been working as guitarists, Romeyn with The Defenders and Fenwick - with American singer Mel Turner, who was fronting the London-based band Rupert And The Red Devils. Gerry and Ray became good friends and were soon talking about forming a band. This came to fruition when Ray talked the Red Devils' rhythm section into joining the project. Gerry fixed a spell of work in a seedy nightclub in the German Port of Cuxhaven, and thus, The Riot Act were born.
Unhappy with the playing schedules at the Cuxhaven Club (it was one of those seven hours a night "character building" gigs all groups did in the sixties!) Gerry contacted Theo Kuppens and arranged for The Riot Act to play at the Restaurant Cecil in Delft. It was here that Peter Tetteroo met Ray Fenwick, and another friendship was formed. Although The Riot Act were extremely well-received in Holland, they were soon to return to England - minus Romeyn, who joined The Shats. Fenwick had also been working with ex-Red Devils' members in a group called The Excels as a backing band for artistes like Marty Wilde, Gene Vincent and Elkie Brooks. In 1967, two years after Ray's time with the legendary Syndicats, Peter Tetteroo asked him to take Romeyn's place in Tee Set. These were heady times for Tee Set. Fenwick and Van Eijck were thrown in at the deep end, having to deal with the non-stop date sheet and newly acquired pop star status. If Tee Set were going to capitalize on the success of "Don't You Leave", a follow-up had to be found. Ray Fenwick had already shown he was capable of writing strong material. The Syndicats' now revered "Crawdaddy Simone" had been co-written by him. Hence, Fenwick put a couple of ideas forward, as Van Eijck seemed reluctant or unable to come up with hit material. However, with recording dates imminent, Van Eijck suddenly conjured up two Tee Set classics, "Please Call Me" and "So I Came Back To You". "Please Call Me", which featured a great vocal performance from Peter Tetteroo, became the fourth Tee Set hit in a row and reached a chart position of number 22 in Holland. It represents a landmark in the history of the group, as this was the first time Van Eijck and Fenwick actually recorded together, and the first time Fenwick recorded with Tee Set. This period also saw the group gaining a certain notoriety for their wild stage show. They obtained the dubious nickname of "Slopers Company", which translated as 'means breakers' or 'demolition company'. Assuming the identity of a fictitious rock star Elvis Crockett, complete with glitter jacket and "Davy Crockett hat", Ray Fenwick would sing a rock'n'roll medley which culminated with Presley's "Jailhouse Rock". The show just got wilder and wilder, with Ray and Peter demolishing stage sets and inciting the audiences into breaking up the gig venues. In the end if just got out of hand, with gigs sometimes lasting only a few minutes.
At one point, Fenwick made a sensational entrance at an outdoor festival, when the band's large American car was driven onto the stage. The whole performance came to an abrupt end as the car collapsed through the stage decking. The "highlight" of this period was manager Theo Kuppens' arrest for Peter's criminal damage to a very expensive grand piano at a Tee Set gig in Scheidam. Peter was standing on the closed lid of said piano with a large toilet seat around his neck (an important fashion accessory, no doubt!), when a deafening clang was heard, resembling the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night". With the piano lid in two pieces and Peter's feet trapped in the mangled strings, it wasn't easy for him to make a swift exit to escape the axe-wielding promoter. Tee Set's early experimentations with stage theatrics also ended in disaster. Phonogram Records had expressed interest in signing the band to a new record deal, and the group was invited to perform at the annual shareholders' gala. Peter Tetteroo, keen to open the show with a bang, proceeded to purchase some pyrotechnics from a firework shop in Delft. Disappointed with the result after an experiment at home, he returned to the shop and asked the proprietor, "Haven't you got anything more impressive??" - "What about gunpowder?" enquired the shop keeper enthusiastically. "Great!" exclaimed Peter Tetteroo. "Black or white smoke?" asked the shop keeper. "Let's go for black smoke," said Peter confidently, unaware of the impending mayhem. Tee Set arrived for the performance and were duly introduced to the assembled dignitaries, who were dressed in their finest attire. Just before show time, Tetteroo poured his one kilo of pure gunpowder into a steel bucket which he had brought with him from home. He had planned to ignite it during the opening bars of "Rockin' Pneumonia", the first song in the set. There was great excitement throughout the auditorium; the curtains opened and as the band played the song's introduction, Peter Tetteroo got to work on his volatile substance. He had inserted fuses into the black powder and tried to ignite them with the aid of a cigarette lighter. At first to Peter's annoyance and impatience, the fuses were just taking too long to burn. With dogged determination he lit a short fuse and threw it directly into the awaiting powder. What happened next can only be described as a mini nuclear explosion! There was a blinding flash of light and a fireball. Then a veritable mushroom cloud of smoke began to engulf the auditorium. Peter Tetteroo, in his desperation, endeavoured to extinguish the ensuing fire with a cymbal grabbed from Carry Janssen's drum kit carefully placing it over the searing flames.
Tetteroo's attempt at fire fighting, however, just sent more black acrid smoke drifting through the hall. At first people started to cough politely, but when it became apparent this was a major disaster, panic set in! The audience headed for the exits where they hoped it would be possible to breathe again. On reaching the auditorium lobby, it became evident that the assembled dignitaries now looked like the cast of The Black and White Minstrel Show. Meanwhile, Tee Set members and road crew were still trying to deal with the bucket fire whilst wafting the dense smoke through the now-opened windows. With the hall's chic light coloured furnishings now a grubby shade of gray, an attempt to restart the show was made. A soot-covered audience returned to their seats and five chimney-sweeps on the stage completed the show, having been made to premise no more smoke! A possible record deal? Phonogram passed, but Tee Set had other label ideas.
Before we leave this infamous pan of Tee Set history, Peter Tetteroo calls to mind one other incident when the group were playing a Sunday lunch-time gig in Veldriel. During the performance, guitarist Ray Fenwick noticed a bucket of potatoes at the side of the stage. For reasons best known to himself, he went over to the bucket, selected the largest specimen he could lay his hands on, and promptly hurled it straight into an unsuspecting audience, hitting some poor chap directly mid-forehead and knocking him clean out. As was the norm now at Tee Set gigs, pandemonium, chaos and confusion ensued! One can only imagine how this gentleman explained to his family, sporting a very large lump on his forehead, how he had been "knocked out" at a Tee Set gig with a bloody potato! There were rumours in the press that perhaps certain members of the band were using illegal substances - surely not! This was just youthful exuberance that was later so magnificently flaunted when, at a huge sell-out concert at then-Ahoy Hall in Rotterdam (with, among others, The Golden Earring, The Spencer Davis Group, and The Small Faces), Tee Set stole the show by showering the audience with flowers... "those were the days, my friends"...
It was around this phase in the group's history that manager Kuppens and singer Tetteroo decided to form their own label, with distribution being handled by Negram/Delta, to whom they had leased their master tapes previously. And so Tee Set Records (T.S.R.) was born.
Both Kuppens and Tetteroo are astute business people, who have always paid for their own recordings, thus retaining the rights, to their work. Ray Fenwick recalls how he once introduced Peter Tetteroo to Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green. When Tetteroo told Green about his label plans, Green was very keen to glean as much information as he could; in the sixties it was very uncommon for artistes to have their own label and of course the ultimate control which went with that.
The beginnings of flower power were starting to emerge, and Tee Set were one of the first Dutch groups to jump on the bandwagon. Their next single, "Now's The Time", was the first song from the Van Eijck-Fenwick songwriting partnership. The tune was and still is a radio favourite in Holland. It features a carnival atmosphere, and its tongue-in-cheek lyrics were paramount to its success. It became yet another chart hit for Tee Set, with a highest chart position of number 13. The sleeve for "Now's The Time" (nearly all 7" singles issued in Europe during the sixties had picture covers) displayed a photograph with Tetteroo, Fenwick, van Eijck and Eduard - drummer Carry Janssen had suddenly and unexpectedly quit the band due to "personal problems".
The group were now left without a drummer, so Hans van Eijck suggested Pierre Van Der Linden, whom he had played with in Jumping Pop-in. Linden turned out to be the perfect drummer for Tee Set; he was versatile, stylish and solid. [He has since had an outstanding career with bands such as Brainbox, Focus and Trace.]
Other problems emerged when guitarist Ray Fenwick was unable to obtain a work permit. This was before Britain joined the E.E.C., and the Dutch Immigration Department did not take kindly to foreign musicians earning a living in Holland without the necessary papers. To Fenwick, who would operate between the U.K. and Holland, every trip was a somewhat clandestine affair. He got caught and arrested once and spent a day in the cells, prior to being transported back to England on the next available flight. Undaunted by it all, however, he returned to Holland for the next gig via Belgium, where the border checks were less stringent. During one of Fenwick's forced absences from Tee Set, ex-Motions guitarist (and composer of Tee Set's first two hits) Robbie van Leeuwen played with the band until the Englishman was able to get back into Holland!
With "Now's The Time" riding high in the charts, Hans van Eijck, Ray Fenwick and Polle Eduard suddenly quit Tee Set to form After Tea. They were hooked on "the flower power culture", After Tea having since been recognised as a leading exponent of the genre. Looking for a recording contract, After Tea set up a series of gigs, aiming to attract A&R attention. Drummer Pierre Van der Linden also quit Tee Set to join After Tea, but by the time the band had secured its deal with Decca Holland, he had been replaced by The Hague drummer Martin Hage.
After Tea notched up their fair share of success. The Van Eijck-Fenwick penned "After Tea" became a top 20 hit in Holland; the song was also covered by Tee Set, The Spencer Davis Group and the German band The Rattles who scored a number 1 with it in the German charts.
By September 1967, Peter Tetteroo had re-formed Tee Set. After seeing a group called James Mean playing in a club in Breda, Tetteroo was not only impressed by the group but also by their young, seventeen-year-old charismatic songwriter/guitarist Ferdi Karmelk. Tetteroo suggested James Mean record some demos with a view to signing to Tee Set Records: he took them into the studio to record one of Karmelk's songs, "What Can I Do".
There was still a full gig sheet for Tee Set, so Tetteroo was keen to get a new band established as soon as possible. It had crossed his mind that James Mean could form the nucleus of a new Tee Set line-up, so he set up rehearsals and, luckily, the whole thing just fell into place. Soon after, Tee Set was back on the road again, now featuring Peter Tetteroo (vocals), Ferdi Karmelk (guitar), Franklin Madjid (bass guitar), Joop Blom (drums), and Jan Pieter Boekhoorn (keyboards). Peter thought that the Karmelk song "What Can I Do", which had been recorded as a demo by James Mean, would make a good debut single for the new Tee Set line-up. The record was released in November 1967, reaching number 31 in the Dutch hit parade. This formation also released a successful album. "Join The Tee Set", and a smash hit single, "Tea Is Famous", but Karmelk soon left the group, having been with them only from September to November 1967. Immediately after his departure, Dutch teen magazine Teen Beat released a promotion album titled "Tee Set Songbook", its sleeve presenting the Karmelk line-up though the trucks were mainly taken from Tee Set's first LP, "Emotion". The fate of Ferdi Karmelk is a story in itself.
Peter Tetteroo explains how, years later, Karmelk was determined to procure the guitarist gig with Dutch rock legend Herman Brood so he started to hang out around the movie set of "Cha Cha", a film in which Brood was appearing with East German rock star Nina Hagen. Sadly for Karmelk, the gig with Brood went to another guitarist, but instead a romance between him and Nina Hagen blossomed. Hagen's, career in the US was starting to take off, so they both decided to move to Los Angeles.
Although they had a daughter together, their relationship ended in a split. Denied parental access to his child, Ferdi slipped into severe depression. Hard drugs took their toll, as a result of which he contracted AIDS and tragically died. Like many of his contemporaries, his talent was stifled by deadly circumstances.
Ferdi Karmelk's place in Tee Set was taken by guitarist Dill Bennick. This period also saw Tee Set work with an army of keyboard players. Jan Pieter Boekhoorn left the group, Peter Seilberger joined and contributed to two hit singles, the first being "This Rose In My Hand" (yet another Robbie van Leeuwen composition) and "Mr. Music Man" (written by American composer Jeff Barry). Seilberger also played on the successful "Forever" LP, after which he exited to concentrate on a teaching career.
Then, out of the blue, Hans van Eijck turns up at Peter Tetteroo's house in Delft, and suddenly he is the keyboard man in Tee Set once again!
In between, Tetteroo had launched his solo career. His first solo hit came in 1968 and was a fine cover version of the famous Neil Diamond song "Red, Red Wine". It peaked at number 6 and stayed in the Dutch charts for 10 weeks. Prior to this, Peter Tetteroo's had already issued two other solo singles, "When I Needed You So" in 1967 and "The Memory of Martin Luther King" in 1968, the latter being a tribute to Dr. King and a testimony to his savage and untimely assassination. There was one other solo single from Tetteroo in 1968 under the alias of Tinus Plotseling. This came about at a time when he was working as a producer on a recording which involved the use of an orchestra. Tetteroo had arrived at the studio early and boredom had started to set in. It was going to be some time before the musicians arrived! He had been given an American copy of a backing track for "Tiptoe Through The Tulips", Tiny Tim style. He had this tape with him and decided it might be fun to attempt a Dutch version of the Tiny Tim hit, so he quickly plotted down the lyric, recorded the vocal and released it using his pseudonym (it has now become a cult record, currently demanding 150 guilders - if you can find one!). This record represents Tetteroo's only attempt to record in his own language... "Trip Trap Door De Tulpjes".
In 1969, the clever van Eijck-Fenwick composition "Magic Lantern" was recorded by Tetteroo. It featured an inventive and stylish orchestral arrangement by Dutchman Frans Mijtz in a style reminiscent of "The Days Of Pearly Spencer" and "McArthur Park". It became a turntable hit in Holland and was also planned as a solo release for Tetteroo in the U.S., but this never came to fruition, though it was included on the American version of the "Ma Belle Amie" LP.
Van Eijck and Tetteroo established a songwriting partnership that was to cultivate some of Tee Set's most successful work. Their first collaboration, "Ma Belle Amie" was a worldwide smash and sold more than six million copies. In the Summer or '69, it stood at number 6 in the Dutch charts, and what happened next is so unusual it can only be put down to fate.
A friend of Peter's had given a copy of the "Ma Belle Amie" single to a DJ in a Zurich discotheque, who liked the single so much he played it nightly.
Enter Jerry Ross, who was the owner of the U.S. record label Colossus and just happened to be in that particular disco, whilst on business in Switzerland. The DJ played "Ma Belle Amie", and Jerry Ross was hooked. He immediately felt that this could be one hell of a big selling record in the States, so he set about seeking out this group called Tee Set, initially by contacting Radio Veronica disc jockey Jan van Veen. who arranged for manager Kuppens, Tetteroo and himself to meet up with Ross at the London Hilton Hotel. A deal was struck with Jerry Ross, but at the same meeting Jan van Veen also played him a record in which he had a song publishing interest. This record was "Venus", written by the prolific and best-selling songwriter/guitarist, ex-Motions member Robbie van Leeuwen, now with the group Shocking Blue. Jerry Ross was more convinced about Tee Set's single, but nevertheless, to van Veen's delight, he agreed to release "Venus" directly after "Ma Belle Amie".
As it happened, "Venus" was the first to be released, since Peter Tetteroo was finding it difficult to get into a recording studio to prepare a stereo mix, which was a prerequisite for the American market. The Dutch release of "Ma Belle Amie" had ironically enough only been mixed in mono, though for a long time prior to this, Tee Set had been campaigning for stereo singles. One can only speculate what could have happened if "Ma Belle Amie" was released before "Venus", which went to number 1 in the U.S. charts, whilst Tee Set's single "only" made it to number 2. These speculations aside, the positive fact is that Nederpop had arrived in the US!
"Ma Belle Amie", translated into English, means 'My Beautiful Friend'. The track had a simple accessible melody and a powerful chorus hook line.
Peter Tetteroo recalls: "It was a Belgian fan who suggested we should write a song with a French title and flavour. On the recording Hans van Eijck played a nylon strung acoustic guitar with a Flamenco technique. Our regular guitarist Dill Bennick did not appear on the track. I overdubbed the tom-tom part which everybody seems to remember." This "catchy little tune" is still being covered today, as it has been by many artistes in the past, including The Jerry Ross Symposium, German star Rex Gildo and Jose Feliciano.
Early in 1970, Tee Set had a number 26 chart record with "Finally In Love Again"/"Charmaine", both van Eijck/Tetteroo compositions. On the B-side Ray Fenwick played slide guitar. He was in Holland at the time and was only too pleased to guest on the track.
Fenwick was also asked to join the band for their American tour of 1970 along with drummer Herman Van Boeyen (Joop Blom and Dill Bennick having recently quit the group), but other work commitments stopped him from doing so. Instead it was suggested that Ferry Lever could fit the bill. At the time he was still playing with After Tea along with ex-Tee Set bass guitarist Polle Eduard. Following a lot of protracted discussions Ferry Lever, a fine conservatoire trained musician, finally joined Tee Set in the Summer of 1970.
The popularity of "Ma Belle Amie" was opening new doors for Tee Set all over the world. The song seemed to be a hit everywhere: Mainland Europe, the Far East and Australia all loved the song. In the UK, however, although receiving widespread radio promotion, it never emulated the American chart success. There was such a demand for Tee Set product in Holland now that as well as the group's newly released "Ma Belle Amie" LP on Tee Set Records, Negram/Delta re-released their 1966 "Emotion" album. The "Ma Belle Amie" LP entered the U.S chart, and so Tee Set needed a single to follow up the album. A song previously recorded by Tetteroo as the B-side of his solo single, "Magic Lantern" was chosen. "If You Do Believe In Love" entered the U.S. charts and peaked at number 42; in Holland it reached number 22. After the American tour, Herman van Boeyen left the group to pursue his own career. Max Spangeberg, an outstanding drummer whom Hans van Eijck had worked with on several recording sessions, and who had been a member of Dutch soul hand The Free, became Tee Set's new drummer.
At this point, Negram had become a major player in the Dutch record label stakes. Tee Set had originally signed to their Delta subsidiary label, but group manager Kuppens felt that bigger promotion budgets would be forthcoming if Tee Set re-signed to Negram direct rather than continue with the existing Tee Set Records distribution agreement. A deal was signed and Tee Set were soon to have their first Dutch number 1 single.
One evening during Ray Fenwick's period with Tee Set, he and Peter Tetteroo had gone to the cinema to see "The Ipcress File", a British spy movie starring Michael Caine. In the movie, Caine plays a British undercover agent, and in one of the scenes he visits his superior in the back garden of his home. Caine makes a sarcastic comment about the copious amounts of weeds growing, to which his superior replies, "My wife likes weeds, they're easy to grow." Both Fenwick and Tetteroo thought this line was hilarious, but it wasn't until 1970 that the latter decided to use the idea as the basis of a song for a new single.
The record became an instant hit. The tune was incredibly catchy, featuring a recurring twin harmony guitar phrase played by Ferry Lever. It went straight to number 1 and stayed in the Dutch charts for an amazing 17 weeks. With the aid of Cardinal Records bus, Rocco Granata, it hit the a Number 1 spot in Belgium as well. The song also gained considerable infamy, as its lyrics were mistakenly taken to have drug connotations, "weeds" of course being slang for marijuana. In Holland and Belgium, with their liberal-minded views on soft drugs, this only helped to increase sales since as well as Tee Set's normal fan-base, the "drug culture fraternity" also felt that they had (albeit erroneously) an affinity with the song. Other countries did not take such a progressive view and refused to play the record. Tee Set continued to go from strength to strength. Their 1970 album "In The Morning Of My Days" featured the hit single "She Likes Weeds" and, like the single, the album also became a big seller. Four more van Eijck/Tetteroo compositions were hit records for Tee Set between 1970 and 1974: "In Your Eyes" (no. 9, 1970), "Little Lady" (no. 19, 1971), "A Sunny Day In Greece" (no. 20, 1971), and "Shotgun" (no. 16, 1972). The LP "T-Five - T-Set", a compilation album, celebrating the group's five year anniversary, went gold in 1971. Whilst "Non Perishable" and "Tee Set Toppers" were both successful in 1972 and 1973 respectively. In 1975, Tee Set recorded a great Polle Eduard song titled "Do It Baby". With it, pronounced reggae feel, the song became a hit as well as a live favourite. The band had also become huge stars in Turkey, where they played to enormous sell-out crowds: hence the longevity of the group was being proven time and again.
Kuppens and Tetteroo invested their gains wisely. In 1971, they opened the "Belle Amie" Nightclub on the pier at Scheveningen. The club was a success but they needed to expand. In 1972, when a premises that was part of the nearby ten-pin bowling centre complex became available, they moved in. Based on eight years of incredible business, the "Belle Amie" name and the Tee Set connections in general kept the club full to capacity. In 1980, Kuppens and Tetteroo also purchased the Pam Pam nightclub, which adjoined Ma Belle Amie. Again, this club proved a runaway success. In 1982, the ten-pin bowling complex was going to relocate, so Kuppens and Tetteroo put in a bid for the building. Their bid was accepted and they planned to turn the complex into a roller-skate disco. Thousands flocked to the roller disco and along with their two nightclubs, Kuppens and Tetteroo had created themselves a sizeable business empire.
Within the complex, Tetteroo also built a recording studio and started an artiste management company. He managed Dutch soul band The Swingin' Soul Machine and Michael Jackson lookalike Daimyo, who had great record success with a Fenwick-Tetteroo composition titled, "Electric Dance". In the meantime, Tee Set continued to release hit material, with LPs like "Do It Baby" (1975), which featured a brief return to the band of original member Polle Eduard, "14 Gouwe Ouwe" (1976) and yet another chart single in 1979, the Arabic-inspired Van Eijck/Tetteroo composition "Linda-Linda" (currently in the process of entering the "house market" in a version by Hans Klein and Ocky Klootwijck). This was followed by a "Golden Greats Of Tee Set" LP in 1979 and "The Best Of The Tee Set" in 1981.
In 1985, the lease for the Kuppens/Tetteroo complex ran out; sadly, the building has now been demolished and in its place is another faceless multiplex cinema. Scheveningen will never be the same now - Tee Set have gone !
Before the demise of this era, the band almost secured another hit record. Ex-group member and guitarist Ray Fenwick got together with Tetteroo and recorded "A Tribute To The Spencer Davis Group", the band which Fenwick had been a part of for five years. This seemed an appropriate thing to do, as it has often been pointed out how much Tetteroo's voice resembles that of former Spencer Davis Group frontman Stevie Winwood. The record became a "turntable hit", and it has cemented the working relationship between Fenwick and Tetteroo to this day. During 1987/88 , with Fenwick in the line-up, Tee Set did a series of live gigs and television shows as promotion for another classic single, "Hot Nights".
Today, Tetteroo and his new Tee Set are still drawing the crowds. Furthermore, he and Fenwick are currently working together on Tetteroo's new solo project.
A final epitaph to Tee Set must be: "The manager stopped the show …Not!" Over the years, there have been those who would have liked to have seen Tee Set slip on the time-honoured banana skin, but the tenacity of all Tee Set members and most of all the staying power of singer Peter Tetteroo and manager Theo Kuppens is an example to all potential pop stars.
During Tee Set's wild show days there were venue managers who did try to stop the show, but unlike Elvis having left the building, Tee Set never will.
Henri Holland (edited by Claes Johanssen)
Peter Tetteroo, R.I.P. (2002)
Peter Tetteroo/Tee-Set FanClub
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