at the 1977 Nationaal Songfestival 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. 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. 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. In addition to herself, the trio included
Debbie, aka Ria Schildmeyer, and
Rosy Pereira. 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). 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. 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. ==Discography==