Biography

St. Claire was born as Bonje Cornelia Swart in Rozenburg on 18 November 1949. She was born on a boat and is the daughter of a barge skipper. Her career began in 1966 when at a Peter Koelewijn concert, she was invited to come up on stage and sing with him.[5]

In 1970 she had a hit with "I Won't Stand Between Them", which peaked at no. 6 in the Netherlands and spent eleven weeks in the charts.[6] In 1979, she was part of a trio called Bonnie, Debbie & Rosy who released a single called "Oh Boy", which was written and produced by Peter Koelewijn.[7] In addition to herself, the trio included Debbie, aka Ria Schildmeyer, and Rosy Pereira.[8][9] She had a string of hits in the Netherlands, including Dokter Bernhard (1976), Pierrot (1980), Bonnie kom je buiten spelen (1980) and Vlieg nooit te hoog (1981). She also scored a hit with a translation of the Bette Midler song The Rose, which translates as De Roos (1980).[10] Later St. Claire would join José Hoebee as part of the duo Bonnie & José and would have a degree of success in the Netherlands. The two singers were under the same management and they soon became friends and started socializing with each other. In 1984 they enjoyed a Top 40 hit with "Cassandra", which had previously been recorded by ABBA. They also recorded an album of Abba songs, which was approved by Björn Ulvaeus.[11][12]

In 2010, St. Claire and Gerard Joling had a hit in the Netherlands with "Morgen Wordt Alles Anders" as Bonnie & Gerard. The song peaked at no. 2 and spent nine weeks in the charts.