Formed in 1959, The Blue Diamonds was a Dutch pop and rock duo comprised of brothers Riem de Wolff (born in Batavia, Indonesia on April 15, 1943) and Ruud de Wolff (born in Batavia, Indonesia on May 12, 1941). Although born in Indonesia, their family relocated to Driebergen-Rijsenberg in the Netherlands in 1949. During the first part of their career, they tended to cover Everly Brothers songs, releasing singles and EPs that included songs such as “Cathy’s Clown” and “Let It Be Me”. In 1960, The Blue Diamonds released a then-modern cover version of the 1928 song “Ramona”, which became a million-selling single. The song was issued internationally, reaching an impressive Number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The single sold a quarter of a million copies in the Netherlands and over a million copies in Germany. The song was featured on their 1960 debut album Always… The Blue Diamonds. The group continued to score chart hits throughout the 1960s in the Netherlands although they never achieved the same kind of international success that they had with “Ramona”. The chart hits stopped in 1971 but the duo continued to record and tour for the next three decades. On December 18, 2000, Ruud de Wolff died from bladder cancer. Riem de Wolff continued to perform until his death on September 12, 2017.
