De Toppers (The Toppers) are a Dutch group formed in 2005 by Dutch singers Gordon Heuckeroth, René Froger and Gerard Joling. The latter previously represented the country at the 1988 Contest in Dublin. In 2008, Gordon was replaced by Jeroen van der Boom. Joling and Gordon rejoined at the end of 2009, with the latter leaving the group in 2011.
Jan Smit joined the group in late 2017, he was one of the Dutch commentators from 2011 to 2023. He was also one of the presenters of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam alongside Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Nikkie de Jager.
Their annual show Toppers in Concert is the longest-running concert series in the Benelux region, having staged the shows since 2005.
They represented their home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow with the song Shine, which finished in 17th place in the second semi final, meaning the country had missed out on the final for another year.
Trivia[]
- Jeroen van der Boom was the voice of Prince Naveen in the Dutch dub of The Princess and the Frog. He is one of three Eurovision representatives to have voiced the character in a foreign-language dub of the film, the others being Roger Cicero (Germany 2007) and Marcin Mroziński (Poland 2010) in the film's German and Polish dubs respectively.
- Additionally, Linda Wagenmakers (Netherlands 2000) and Ruth Jacott (Netherlands 1993) voiced Tiana and Mama Odie respectively in the same dub of the film.