Earth and Fire
A Dutch band led by the twin brothers Chris and Gerard Koerts and the singer Jerney Kaagman, who moved from progressive rock to pop, with number ones in the Netherlands with "Memories" (1972) and "Weekend" (1979) and a number three in 1973 with "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight".
The Singing Twins to Atlantis
From 1960 the twins Chris and Gerard Koerts performed as the Singing Twins. They had a talent-show breakthrough in 1962, became the Swinging Strings in 1965 and Opus Gainfull in 1967, with Hans Ziech and Cees Kalis, and took the name Earth and Fire in 1968 before a show in Beverwijk; the Dutch Wikipedia counts the group's start from 1967. Their first singer, Manuela Berloth, left, and Jerney Kaagman, previously with the Rangers, was hired in September 1969. Ton van der Kleij replaced Kalis on drums in 1970.
Their breakthrough in 1970 was "Seasons", a song by George Kooymans of Golden Earring, number two in the Netherlands, followed by "Ruby Is the One" and "Wild and Exciting". Song of the Marching Children (1971) was one of the first Dutch concept albums, went gold and led to a television special, and Gerard Koerts introduced the Mellotron to Dutch pop. "Memories" in 1972 was their first Dutch number one, produced like their other 1970s records by Jaap Eggermont, and Atlantis (1973) reached number six on the Dutch album chart and went gold. They won the Zilveren Harp in 1973.
The later years
To the World of the Future (1975) and Gate to Infinity (1977) followed, and in 1978 van der Kleij and Hurts left and Bert Ruiter (formerly of Focus) and Ab Tamboer joined. Polydor rejected the demos for Reality Fills Fantasy, so they signed with Phonogram in 1979, and "Weekend", from that album, was number one in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany; Chris Koerts left that year. Andromeda Girl (1981) and In a State of Flux (1982) came before their last concert of the first era, at Lemele on May 12, 1983. They reunited from 1987 to 1990, making Phoenix (1989), and Kaagman later judged on Dutch Idols and made two solo albums. Gerard Koerts died in 2019 and Chris Koerts in 2022.
On February 3, 2017, surviving members met in The Hague, 50 years after the founding, for a nine-album box, Memories. Scooter sampled "Weekend" in 2003, the Ettes covered "Seasons" in 2009, and a biography by Fred and Dick Hermsen appeared in 2006.
Albums
- Atlantis 1973 · Polydor
Their 1973 concept album: a sixteen-minute suite about a destroyed island on side one, and shorter songs on side two.
Songs
- Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight Atlantis · 1973
The only single from Atlantis, a three-minute rock song that reached number three in the Netherlands in 1973.
Sources
- Earth and Fire, Wikipedia
- Earth & Fire, Wikipedia (Dutch)
- Earth and Fire, earthandfire.nl
- Earth and Fire retrospective, part 3, DPRP (2026)