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The Blue Diamonds (duo)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indonesian and Dutch rock and roll duo

"The Blue Diamonds" redirects here. For other uses, seeBlue diamond (disambiguation).

The Blue Diamonds
Ruud and Riem de Wolff (The Blue Diamonds), August 1962.
Background information
Origin	Maluku, Ambon Indonesia
Genres	Rock and roll,Country
Years active	1959–2000
Labels	Decca,Philips

Past members	Ruud de Wolff Riem de Wolff

The Blue Diamonds were anIndonesian andDutch 1960srock and roll duo, best known for their million-sellingchart-topping single, "Ramona".Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) brothersRuud de Wolff (12 May 1941 – 18 December 2000) andRiem de Wolff (15 April 1943 – 12 September 2017) founded the group shortly after immigrating toDriebergen-Rijsenburg in theNetherlands in 1949. They were born in Batavia (nowJakarta), Indonesia.^[1]

Early career

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Called the "Dutch – Indonesian Everly Brothers", the Blue Diamondscovered manyEverly Brothers songs, but became famous in 1960 with their version of "Ramona", a song originally written for the 1928 film,Ramona. The song was written for promotional appearances withDolores del Río (star of the film) but not featured in the film itself. The Blue Diamonds up-tempo version of it (changing it from the original³
₄ rhythm to a⁴
₄ one) reached the AmericanBillboard Hot 100 at number 72 in 1960. It sold over 250,000 copies in the Netherlands (the firstrecord to ever do so) and over one million copies in Germany by 1961.^[2]

Later career

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Although their last hit was in 1971, they continued to perform together up until Ruud de Wolff died from bladder cancer at the end of the year 2000. Riem de Wolff continued to perform and release albums until his death in 2017. At the time of his death, Riem had just been diagnosed with lung and liver cancer and had been suffering from the effects of a recent stroke.^[3]

A couple from Driebergen-Rijsenburg has taken the initiative to erect a statue to commemorate The Blue Diamonds. In mid-October 2025—65 years after Ramona became a global hit—the statue of the singing duo was unveiled at the Oranjevijver in their former hometown. The moment received national media attention.