Bolland & Bolland

Bolland & Bolland are two Dutch music producers and brothers Rob Bolland (born on April 17, 1955) and Ferdi Bolland (born on August 5, 1956). They were born in Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

Career

They produced and wrote for such artists as Falco (including his Number 1 hit "Rock Me Amadeus"), Samantha Fox ("Love House"), and wrote the Status Quo hit "In the Army Now" – which they released under their own name in 1981 and which was also recorded by Gerard Joling. As musicians in their own right they released their first eponymous album in 1975.

Their hit singles career however started as early as 1972 with Wait for the Sun in a folky a cappella-style following the success of Simon and Garfunkel and their Dutch equivalents Greenfield and Cook. When in 1976 their success started to wane, they turned towards a more electronic sound, an early example of which can be heard in Spaceman, a 1978 hit in the Netherlands.

Outside the Netherlands they shortened their name to Bolland and established their name internationally with the release of the concept album The Domino Theory. The edgy, tuneful album is a critical look at war and US intervention in foreign conflicts from the viewpoint of the foot soldier. It contains the single "In the Army Now", which became a small hit; in fact it reached number 1 in Norway and held the top spot for six consecutive weeks. In South Africa, the single peaked at number 9 in May 1982, largely boosted by increased conscription due to the South African Border War. Francis Rossi, lead singer of Status Quo, is quoted widely as having heard the song while on the Autobahn in Germany. He eventually persuaded Quo to record it, and the single reached number 2 in the UK in Autumn 1986. However, the song is best understood as part of the original Bolland album.