There is no denying the impact of a singer like Jerney Kaagman on a pre-pubescent boy in 1970/71. She led the band Earth & Fire with teased hair and ever more provocative clothing. Besides all the eye candy, the band made incredibly good music to go with Jerney's looks.
The members of Earth & Fire formed a band in the later 1960s hailing from the villages around The Hague. They met with their settled colleagues Golden Earring(s) with that band's principal songwriter George Kooymans providing Earth & Fire's first single, released late in 1969 to chart early in 1970. 'Seasons' was a huge hit immediately and a song I still love to hear right up to this day. That Jerney Kaagman was not the absolute front singer at that time, she joined only a few months before the recording, shows that the lead vocals are shared between her and guitarist Chris Koerts. Although the band did not call itself a symphonic rock band yet, the concept of moving beyond a one dimensional pop song, is already clear in the intro that returns throughout the song, the rocking start and the dreamy coda. 'Seasons' is one of the most innovative debut singles in this country.
It is a bar that Earth & Fire regularly met again throughout the first years of its career. First, the band went off in a hardrock direction with its self-penned top 10 singles 'Ruby Is The One' and 'Wild And Exciting'. The twins Chris and Gerard Koerts were the principle songwriters, sometimes joined by bass player Hans Ziech. In hindsight the songs are more wild and exciting than truly good, but still so much fun to hear today. The band's hits made a great string right up to 1974's 'Love Of Life'. After that the band seemed to lose focus and left its rock roots for disco influenced songs, with a loss of popularity as a result.
Despite this the band's biggest hit was still around the corner. In 1979 the song 'Weekend' was released, seen as a toss away kind of song and then it happened. Jerney Kaagman performed on TV in her now iconic blue suit and the rest is history, a number one hit, written by keyboard player Gerard Koerts in several European countries. It did not save the band. There were no big hits left and the original members bar Jerney Kaagman had already left or left after 'Weekend'.
Kaagman had a career in music at a managerial and musician representation level after Earth & Fire folded. Her last feat was as a stern juror in the Dutch version of 'Idols'. She kept having Parkinson's disease private for quite some time. Later she became the face of the Parkinson Disease Patients Foundation, in which a good personal friend afflicted with the disease, played a role in.
With Kaagman all but one of the original members of Earth & Fire have passed away. What remains, is a string of hitsingles that I love to hear. The mystique in songs like 'Invitation' and 'Storm And Thunder', the huge sound of 'Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight', the symphonic poprock quality of 'Memories', the super fast guitar solos of Chris Koerts. Music to really cherish.
I was to young for the albums at the time and the only one I now own, second hand, is 'Song Of The Marching Children'. Let's call it a time document, but not something I play a lot, if ever. The 'Greatest Hits' suffices for me and I'll even listen to the disco thingies in between.
With Jerney Kaagman the second of two The Netherlands' super female singers of the late 60s has passed away. Mariska Veres and Jerney Kaagman, what more did a young boy need to dream of playing in a band with them?
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
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