{{Short description|Dutch vocalist}} thumb| '''Bojoura,''' born '''Raina Gerardina Bojoura van Melzen''' (15 April 1947), is a folk and pop vocalist, whose greatest success came in the late 1960s and 1970s.
==Life and career== Bojoura was born in The Hague, The Netherlands to Bulgarian opera singer Dany Zonewa.<ref name=top40 /> Bojoura was discovered by George Kooymans of the rock band Golden Earring, who went on to write and produce many of her songs. Bojoura scored her first hit in June 1967 with the Kooymans ballad "Everybody's Day" which reached top 20 due to heavy airplay on Radio Veronica.<ref name=top40 /> She released her album ''Night Flight Night Sight'' in 1968, which was not commercially successful.
In 1969, she charted once more in Europe with her version of the song "Frank Mills" from the Broadway musical ''Hair''. It was through this song that she connected with Thijs van Leer, whose band (which later became the Focus) performed in a Dutch production of the musical. Van Leer wrote songs for Bojoura for her third album, ''The Beauty of Bojoura''.<ref name=top40 /> She also had a minor success with the title track of If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, a song that later inspired the opening lines of the song "Chura Liya Hai Tumne" from the 1973 Indian film ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.inuth.com/trends/pop-culture/chura-liya-hai-to-mehbooba-7-bollywood-songs-that-were-inspired-by-others/|title= Chura Liya Hai to Mehbooba: 7 Bollywood songs that were 'inspired' by others' |first=Siddhant|last=Pandey|work=inuth|publisher=inuth|location=New York City|date=September 12, 2017|access-date=September 12, 2017}}</ref>
Through the mid-1970s she had some success in the Netherlands; in 1974, her cover of "The Letter" reached the top 20 on the Dutch charts. After 1980, she concentrated on her family life and helped run her husband's drumming school.<ref name=top40 /> Bojoura was married to the Dutch drummer Hans Cleuver, who died in March 2018. Cleuver was a founding member of the progressive rock band Focus.<ref name="[NME]">{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/video/id/ERRK37zkx0U/search/Bojoura|title=Bojoura|publisher=NME|accessdate=12 February 2010}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Discography== === Albums === *1967 - Kunst voor Kinderen (for terre des hommes) *1968 - Nightflight Nightsight *1970 - The Beauty of Bojoura (with Focus) *1972 - The Best of Bojoura *1973 - Jesus Christ Superstar *2001 - Everybody's Day ===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 0; text-align: center;" ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Title ! colspan="2"| Peak chart positions |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! style="width:4em;"| NED<br>Dutch<br>Top 40<br /><ref name=top40>{{cite web |url=https://www.top40.nl/top40-artiesten/bojoura |title=Bojoura |work=Top 40 }}</ref> ! style="width:4em;"| NED<br>Top 100<br /><ref name="dutch charts">{{cite web |url= https://dutchcharts.nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bojoura |title=Bojoura|work=Dutchcharts.nl}}</ref> |- |rowspan=2|1967 |align="left"|"Dream Man" |34||— |- |align="left"|"Everybody's Day" |18||— |- |1968 |align="left"|"Circus Will Be In Town In Time" |—||— |- |rowspan=2|1969 |align="left"|"Frank Mills" |8||7 |- |align="left"|"If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" |35||— |- |rowspan=3|1971 |align="left"|"Black Sheep Child" |—||— |- |align="left"|"Everything's Allright" |<small>''Tip''</small>||— |- |align="left"|"Once Upon A Time" |—||— |- |1972 |align="left"|"Allentown Jail" |<small>''Tip''</small>||— |- |1973 |align="left"|"What Is Love" |<small>''Tip''</small>||— |- |rowspan=2|1974 |align="left"|"Thank You For Calling" |—||— |- |align="left"|"The Letter" |16||14 |- |1977 |align="left"|"Another Suitcase in Another Hall" |—||— |- |1980 |align="left"|"Hard Times" |—||— |- | colspan="6" style="font-size:90%;" | "—" denotes releases that did not chart |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.bojoura.info/ Bojoura Website]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bojoura}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch women pop singers Category:Dutch pop singers Category:Musicians from The Hague Category:English-language Dutch singers