Anny Schilder

Anny Schilder (b. 14 February 1959) is a Dutch pop singer, and was the lead singer of BZN from 1976 to 1984.

Jack Veerman, the drummer of BZN met Schilder when she was working as a salesgirl at an eel-stand in Volendam, and when his band was looking for a female singer, he remembered she had a great voice.

They had her audition, but she initially was too timid to become a performer.

It took some time, but Veerman was able to convince her.

She became, together with Jan Keizer the face of BZN from 1976 until 1984.

The first single the band released with the two lead-singers was Mon Amour, which was an immediate success.

A long string of top-10 hits followed.

They sang Mon Amour at the 80th birthday celebration of famous TV host Mies Bouwman.

In 1984 Schilder decided to leave BZN, citing that she needed more time to spend with her family.

Later on she admitted that the continuous touring and performing was getting too much for her.

She had her sister babysit her daughter, who started calling her Mama instead of Schilder.

Carola Smit replaced her as lead-singer of BZN.

After leaving BZN, Schilder had a reasonably successful solo career, although never as successful as with BZN.

She released her first solo single in December 1984 for the holidays called Eeuwige Kerst (Eternal Christmas).

The song was written by Henk Temming of Het Goede Doel, and accompanied by the children's choir of Kinderen voor Kinderen, as well as the Amsterdam Choir De Stem Des Volks.

She did release several other hits, like Love is...(1985), Adieu Cherie (1988) and You are my Hero (1989), which entered the charts in the top 10.

Her most successful album was You are my Hero, which just fell short of obtaining a gold-record.

In this book she describes her divorce in 1986 and her postpartum depression.

The book sold 10,000 copies in the first three months after its release.

At the same time she released a new album with the same title.

The CD contains covers of BZN songs, as well as covers of other artist's hits, like The Way Old Friends Do from ABBA.

This song is a duet with Schilder's daughter Anja.

The song Rockin' the Trolls, a BZN-cover, was released as a single, which includes vocals by former-BZN member Jan Veerman.

After 1997 Schilder stopped recording new music.

The only singing engagements Schilder did between 2000 and 2006 was with a BZN-reunion band, made up of former BZN members, called BZN'66.

This band played mostly songs from the early years of BZN, during which period beat and rock music were their genre.

She met a Spanish Discotheque Owner, and in 2004 she left Volendam to move to Spain with her children.

She did not return to The Netherlands until 2006, after which she re-energized her singing career.

On 21 March 2007 Schilder released her autobiography Anny en Ik (Anny and I).

In 2007 Schilder released a song titled First Kiss Goodnight, a duet with South-African singer Gerrie Pretorius.

The song reached the number 1 spot in the charts in South Africa, and received platinum status.

The song was released in September 2007 in The Netherlands, but did not chart.

In May 2009 Schilder released a new single titled Be My Baby, which was a duet with Luv' singer José Hoebee.

The song was somewhat successful in Belgium, and Schilder and Hoebee continued to appear together on occasion.

25 years after leaving BZN, Schilder performed for the first time with co-singer Jan Keizer.

This was broadcast by the AVRO TV station on 30 December 2009.

The reaction to their performance was so positive, they decided to continue working together.

Their management revealed they would record an album and a single, as well as a TV music special.

On 2 July 2010 they released the single Take me to Ibiza as Jan en Anny.

The song reached number 3 in the charts, making it the most successful song released by BZN-related artists in 10 years.