The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
MOUTH & MACNEAL
“HOW DO YOU DO”
(Henry van Hoof, Hans van Hemert)
Philips 40715
No. 8 July 22, 1972
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The Mouth (Willem Duyn)–so named because he was always running off with it–and Maggie MacNeal
(Sjoukje Van’t Spijker) teamed up in 1971 after both artists’ solo releases bombed. Mouth happened to
hear a tape of Maggie’s at the Phonogram Studios in Amsterdam. He approached producer Hans van
Herrnert about arranging a meeting with MacNeal. Frustrated with her failed single, MacNeal agreed to a
coupling with the gravel throated Duyn. Recorded in English, “Hey Love You,” their first release, did well
regionally. “How Do You Do,” their second single, sold incredibly well internationally. Eventual sales in
the U.S.alone exceeded a million copies.
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Willem Duyn was born in 1942, in Haarlem, Netherlands. For years, he worked as a construction worker,
and played drums on evenings and weekends in a jazz combo, the Holland Quartet. Willem joined the
more pop-oriented Jay-Jays in 1968. Not content, he moved on to spinning records at a radio station,
opening up his own nightclub, and, in 1970, fronting a beat group, Speedway. The latter configuration
achieved some success, and Duyn was becoming known as something of a Dutch Joe Cocker. After the
group splintered, he cut some solo sides. Mouth’s cover of the Shangri-Las’ “Remember (Walkin’ in the
Sand)” failed to generate sales.
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Maggie MacNeal was born in 1951, also in the Dutch city of Haarlem. When 18, Maggie studied classical
singing for three years before quitting school to join up with a pop group. A local DJ liked her stuff and
arranged an audition with the Philips label. Her first release, a cover of Motown classic “I Heard It
Through the Grapevine,” flopped.
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It was at this point that Mouth and MacNeal came together for their mini-moment on the American air
waves. Never again were they able to interest stateside ears to buy their solo or duet recordings–four
singles and two albums were issued in the U.S.–though in the Netherlands, their popularity continued. In
1974, they crashed the U.K. Top 10 with “I See a Star,” the tune they utilized in representing Holland in the
Eurovision Song Contest.