Buzz about The Toppers in The Netherlands

Posted by Italo on Feb 07, 2009 | Leave a Comment

After a sensational National Song Contest, the Dutch audience Sunday night in large numbers choose the song ‘Shine’ out of 6 songs. The song is written by singer Gordon and is produced by Bas van den Heuvel. Gordon had send his song under a pseudonym and got very emotional when ‘Shine’ turned out to be the winning song. After the final results came in he declared that he wrote the song ‘Shine’. ‘To me this is my biggest dream come true’ says Gordon. Gordon has been a true fan of the Song Contest for years.

The Toppers Eurovision 2009

With their song ‘Shine’ The Toppers believe that The Netherlands can finally break through to the finals. It is a lovely up-tempo feel-good Song Contest song. The message of the song ‘Shine’ is that if you have a positive attitude we can all together solve nearly any problem. ‘You should be a source of love, support and relieve in times of concern and despair.’ If we tackle the problems in this world together in a positive manner and with an open vision we can achieve en resolve nearly everything. Let your light Shine!

One day after the finales a certain woman named Daniëlle Smit stated to the Dutch press that Gordon had plagiarized. The message and the refrain of the song sounded very familiar to her. ‘My song is about having respect for one another and enjoying live. That is also what Gordon’s song is about. My song is also called ‘Shine’.’

The Tros, the organisation of the National Song Contest stated the following. ‘Everyone in Holland could send their song to the Tros until the 23rd of November. During the normal entry the song of Gordon, as well as the lyrics of this woman, were received by us. On the 24th of November we handed the 350 songs and the 200 lyrics to the Toppers. Therefore it is not even possible that Gordon was notified about this.’

Manager of The Toppers, Benno de Leeuw says that this Daniëlle had called him after the announcement of the 6 final songs via a press release. ‘She said that she had also send in a song called ‘Shine’ and asked me if I could read out loud the lyrics of Gordon’s song. That is what I did and she immediately said ‘That’s a shame, these are not my lyrics, just the same title’. Besides that, it is a little weird that someone claims something based on the fact that it is about having respect and enjoying live, thousands of songs have been written about this.’ After a disturbance of a day, which was enlarged in the Dutch press, it became clear via different statements. Singer Gordon of The Toppers wrote ‘Shine’ and no one else.