André Hazes
| André Hazes | |
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André Hazes
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | André Gerardus Hazes |
| Also known as | Dré Hazes |
| Born |
30 June 1951 Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Origin | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | 23 September 2004 (aged 53) Woerden, Netherlands |
| Genres | Levenslied |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1959, 1976–1977, 1979–2004 |
| Labels | EMI |
| Website | andrehazes |
André Gerardus Hazes (30 June 1951 – 23 September 2004) was a Dutch singer in a genre called levenslied ("song about life"), popular music about everyday life sung in the Dutch language. André Hazes was one of the most successful singers in this genre. Hazes recorded 31 studio and live albums and he released 55 singles.
Hazes was born in 1951 in Amsterdam's De Pijp-area. At the age of eight, he was discovered at the Albert Cuyp Market by comedian Johnny Kraaykamp and made his television debut in AVRO's Weekendshow in 1966, where he sang a song in fake Italian, "Piove". Two singles, "Droomschip" and "Juanita", were released but did not lead to a career in music.
Hazes pursued several odd-jobs (ordinary seaman, flower delivery boy, chimney sweeper, butcher's apprentice, bicycle repairman, trench digger, construction worker, demolition man, market salesman, and disc jockey) before building up a reputation as a singing bartender in his hometown, in café De Krommert on the Witte de Withstraat. In 1976 he wrote and demoed "Eenzame Kerst", a song about a prisoner's lonely Christmas, for singer Willy Alberti hoping that he would record it; Alberti suggested that Hazes record it himself. The single sold 70,000 copies in three weeks and made him an instant star.
An album, Zo is het leven ("Such is life") was released in 1977 and reached top 20; extracted singles "Mama" and "De Vlieger" didn't chart although the latter became a Dutch evergreen (and a top 40 hit second time round) in years to come. Still, he returned to bartending.
In 1980 he signed a contract with EMI, and soon after that his career started to take off. "Een Vriend" ("A Friend") and "Een Beetje Verliefd" ("A Little in Love)" were both top ten hits in 1981, produced by his best friend Tim Griek.
In 1981 Hazes was awarded the Zilveren Harp (Silver Harp) for his album Gewoon André (Just André) which sold 500,000 copies and was certified five times platinum in its first year of release and two more times two years later. Three of the album's songs, including "Een Beetje Verliefd", were written for Hazes by Aart Mol and his colleagues from the 1970s band Catapult, who had formed the production company Cat Music, which would write a total of 39 songs for Hazes. 1982 was the year of his great concert in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
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