Rob de Nijs
| Rob de Nijs | |
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Rob de Nijs in 2008
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| Born |
Robert de Nijs December 26, 1942 Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
Rob de Nijs (born December 26, 1942, Amsterdam) is a Dutch singer and actor, active since the 1960s.
De Nijs, backed by The Lords, won a talent-contest in 1962 and released his first single in 1962, Ritme van de Regen. In 1965 De Nijs split from The Lords because they signed their own record-deal at another label; he embarked on a joint circus-tour with Johnny Lion.
By 1967, De Nijs was a free agent; he performed at small venues and worked as a bartender for a living. His attempts to keep up with the zeitgeist, including Bye Bye Mrs. Turple, failed; he only made the headlines by marrying his girlfriend Elly in 1968 and landing into hospital through a carcrash of his own fault.
In 1969 De Nijs took part in the Dutch heat of the Eurovision Song Contest and through musicals like Sajjuns Fiksjen he landed himself a role in children's TV-series Oebele. This was followed in 1972 by Hamelen in which he played Bertram Bierenbroodspot.
Singer Boudewijn de Groot and songwriter Lennaert Nijgh helped De Nijs relaunch his singing career; in 1973 he was back in the charts with Jan Klaassen de Trompetter.
The hits continued through 1975-1976, notably Malle Babbe and Zet een Kaars voor Je Raam (a Dutch translation by Lennaert Nijgh of David McWilliams's Can I Get There by Candlelight?). In 1977 De Nijs released Tussen Zomer en Winter, a concept-album chronicling the change from a hot summer's day to a cold winter's night and featuring translations of Lou Reed's Perfect Day and The Beach Boys' Disney Girls (1957).
In 1980 De Nijs released Met Je Ogen Dicht (Eyes Wide Shut) which included the top 10-hit Zondag and became the country's best-selling album of the year. He met Belinda Meuldijk who gave up her own singing-career (after releasing a one-off single in 1979) to become his chief-songwriter and his second wife (they married in 1984). The first efforts of their collaboration were collected in 1981 on the album De Regen Voorbij (Past The Rain; a reference to his artistic growth).
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