Tulips from Amsterdam

Retired presenter and singer Herman Emmink died on Monday in Laren at the age of 86. Emmink became famous with his version of the evergreen “Tulips from Amsterdam”. He started his career as announcer for the radio in the early fifties. In 1957, he gained much popularity as a singer with the famous song “Tulips from Amsterdam”. He became known as “the singing broadcaster”. In those days, he worked for different radio stations like AVRO, Radio Luxemburg and the VARA, while maintaining his career as a singer. He made several albums and in 1961 he took part in the National Song Contest. His live radio music program “Muzikaal onthaal” for AVRO, counted a total of 830 episodes since 1965 and stopped only in 1982. He also had a successful radio program called “Te gast bij Herman Emmink” with TROS. Besides his work for the radio, he was a TV icon, mostly presenting television game shows like “Wie van de Drie”, which he presented from 1971 till 1982. He took the role of gentleman who had to control and slow down the hilarious panel members who questioned three guests. Towards the end of his career, he supported the foundation of Omroep Max because he thought there was a lack of music in the Dutch language on radio and television. He once said that his 'Tulips from Amsterdam' did not make him rich and that actually he was not able to save any money from it. The song, however, made him famous and his name lives on by the tulip that was named after him.