translation by Lentemorgen:
Цитата
This man is doing it with Anita, again!
New single released, album on it's way, worldtour coming up. Ray & Anita are back, but it will never be how it used to be in the past.
Let's start with the most important thing: how is Anita doing?
She's doing well, given the circumstances. We're lucky that they discovered the breastcancer in an early stage. Anita's reacting well to the chemotherapy. We did "Vrienden van Amstel Live" and that was quite heavy ofcourse, but she managed it impressively well. Luckily our reunion and new single are going well and that motivates her to stay positive.
Finally you guys got together again...
and then this happens, like it's the devil playing with us! We just hope that Anita will recover quicky. She is almost done with her chemo and then we'll see how things are going with her. For the upcoming months we'll focus on Europe, so we'll be doing a lot of promotion and a few performances. When Anita is more healthy again, we'll do more travelling to Asia, South-America, Australia etc.
Aren't you afraid that people might have enough of you two?
Some people might think like that ofcourse, but we're just enthousiastic about it. 13 years ago we both quit 2 unlimited. I wanted to do my own thing, and so did Anita. Till last year when "I love the 90's" popped up, and we had a lot of input for our performance so we could do our own thing. Then 50.000 people showed up. That makes you think...
and now you and Anita are fine again together?
The chemistry between us is exactly like it used to be. Look, Anita and I didn't speak with eachother for years. During 2 unlimited we had a relationship, so that was a part of the problem aswell. At first we just wanted to do "I love the 90's" cause we wanted to close the chapter on a good note. But well, things went so well that we'll be waiting with closing the book for another while. We're also performing with a liveband, so we can do a lot more. We play new songs, and some artists from the past might show up. We're like the "Toppers of the Dance" *laughs*
You guys don't have contact anymore with the producers behind 2 unlimited?
We're in court against them for the past eleven years already. They still have to pay us a lot of money. We can't use the name 2 unlimited. A lot of artists from the 90's can't use their old name anymore. There was always a producer behind the name and owned it. I was only 19 when we started 2 unlimited, so I wasn't thinking about these things back then. I just wanted to perform. I was working in the kitchen and all of a sudden I earned more in one weekend than I would earn with kitchenwork in a month.
One of the 2 producers told me to write a rap for a song he made: Get Ready For This. I never wrote a rap before, but I just tried it. While writing that, I also made a part for a singer. It was as if God was holding my pen that day. 2 weeks later we were in England. Anita and I both quit our job, signed a few papers and from that moment we were 2 unlimited. That's how it went.
Did fame go to your head at some point?
Ofcourse it did a little bit because of the travelling, the girls and all the parties. I can say I had a great time. I even lived in Monaco for eleven years. We got an award there from Prince Albert. He was a huge 2 unlimited-fan. I remember how I wrote on that prize: Peace to Prince Albert. He said that night: "Ray, why don't you come live here?" Within a month everything was arranged. Monaco is really plain, but a lot of international stars live there, so it was a good place to make connections. Michael Jackson, P.Diddy, Mariah Carey. I met them all. I have a nice black book with a lot of good phone numbers *laughs*
They knew your music aswell?
Get Ready For This was a big hit in America. It's still being played during baseballevents from the NBA. It's our big dream to make it in the US. That's my new ambition, but I also know that you can call some people only once in your life. Like with P.Diddy, you only get one shot.
Can you still live from the money you earned?
I wrote 90% of our songs. That will keep on going. I still get a cheque each year from Buma-Stemra. My kids will be able to live from that.
Last question: what was your relationship with Katja Schuurman?
She told during a tv-show that we had a relationship when we were younger, and that I was one of her first boyfriends. Everyone goes hysterical whenever they hear that, but she was just a really nice girl.