Toni Willé

Dutch country singer Toni Wille was born as Antonia Johanna Cornelia Kowalczyk in Treebeek, the Netherlands on June 26, 1953. A striking blonde beauty with a strong, sultry voice and a distinctive gap in her upper front teeth, Wille was the stepdaughter of a Polish miner and grew up in the town of Limburg. She began her music career along with her older siblings Betty Dragstra and Marianne Veldpaus as The Singing Sisters in 1963. They then became The BG's from Holland and changed their name a third time to Sweet Reaction in 1973. Sweet Reaction released the unsuccessful single "Tell Alain" in 1973. In 1975 the three Kowalczyk sisters became the singers for the Dutch country band Pussycat; Toni was the lead singer while her sisters provided backing vocals. Pussycat scored a massive international hit with the beautiful song "Mississippi" in 1976. Pussycat enjoyed a steady succession of hit songs throughout the 70s and recorded a bunch of albums before breaking up in 1984. Toni went on to a very successful solo career. Wille released the album "Privilege" in 1985. She followed this album with "Working Girl" in 1987 and "New Words to an Old Love Song" in 1989. The Dutch magazine "Country Gazette" cited Wille as the best female country singer of the year in 1989. Toni was subsequently given this same accolade in both 1990 and 1991 as well. She sang the theme song to the Dutch thriller "De Flat" in 1994. In 1999 Wille sang the duet "Oh, How I Miss You" with Dutch singer Benny Neyman and recorded the album "American Duets" with Neyman in 2000. In 2004 she sang the duet "Heart Half Empty" with singer Danny Vera. Wille often performs in concerts in Germany, where she has proved to be an especially popular singer. More recently Toni Wille reunited with her sisters Betty and Marianne for the band Major Dundee's album "Young Gods" in 2005 and Dutch singer Dennis Jones' reggae cover of "Mississippi" in 2007.