In the entire decade of the 1970s, no one spent as long in the Top 40 as Corry Konings. With her whopper of a hit ‘Crying is too late for you’ from 1970, she was in the hit list for no less than 41 weeks in a row. An absolute record, which stood well into the new millennium. And to this day it is the only Dutch-language song to achieve that.
Everywhere Konings performs, she still has to sing the song. “I didn’t sing it once, then people came up to me at the end of the night: would you like to sing it again?” said the singer from Berkel-Enschot once in an episode of Top 900 TV. “It still remains a song that cannot be ignored. Everyone sings along without thinking.”
Discovered by the local record executive
When she was about 16 years old, Corry worked at a hairdresser in Sint Willebrord and had already participated in a few talent shows. She also sang with the band the Mookers when the local record executive wanted a cassette tape from her: he wanted to let Pierre Kartner hear her voice. That turned out to be a golden step: Kartner started writing songs for her. It was the beginning of Corry and the Rekels.
That band produced two modest hits at the end of 1969: ‘Farewell, I will not shed a tear for you’ and ‘My silent sorrow’. But in April 1970 came the real hit: when ‘Crying is too late for you’ was released. The song shot into the Top 40 and did not break out for the rest of the year.
It was not until January ’71 that the number disappeared from the list again. However, the song has never reached number one, the highest position was number five. Only two songs have spent longer in the Top 40 since the chart began: Pharrel Williams with ‘Happy’ (47 weeks) and Lewis Capaldi with ‘Someone you loved’ (42 weeks).
Still relevant after 53 years
Music editor Edwin van Loon, who works for Omroep Brabant radio, endorses the success. “It still affects people today,” he explains. “The text is still relevant, even 53 years later.” Konings dominated the 1970s with her songs. Which Pierre Kartner continued to write for her even after the first success.
This weekend you can hear the 70’s Weekend on the radio at Omroep Brabant. From Friday to Sunday you will hear the coolest and best music from that wonderful decade, framed with news and games from that time. Listen in via omroepbrabant.nl/radio.
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