Wim Soutaer

Wim Soutaer (born 27 June 1974 in Halle, Flemish Brabant), was a contestant best known for placing third in Idool 2003, the Belgian version of Pop Idol.

Wim began singing in the early 1990s with his school band State Of Mind who performed benefit concerts of original songs and also covers of Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Metallica. When the guitarist left, they renamed themselves Bodhi and played at many festivals around Belgium, they also competed in many competitions including "Rockvonk" and placed third in "KumoRock".

In 2000, Wim wanted to sing solo and joined the project Soundmixshow a sort of precursor talent show to Idool, Wim placed fourth in competition overall, at this time he compared his style to Billy Joel, Mike Patton and Elton John.

In 2003, Wim entered the auditions for the contest Idool 2003 where he was told by jury member Jan Leyers that he has a good voice for Flemish music. After Wim placed third on the show he gained a recording contract with BMG Belgium and recorded his first CD Een Nieuw Begin (A New Start) which was produced by Ronald Vanhuffel who has had previous success with Blof and Volumia, the first single was Allemaal (Everyone) which was a huge hit reaching #1, selling 40,000 copies and winning the Zomerhit 2003 Best Song Of The Year.

The second single from Een Nieuw Begin was Ik Hoor Bij Jou (I Belong With You). The third was Voor Altijd (For Always), based on the 1997 Nek hit Laura non c'e, and was another #1 hit on the Ultratop 50.

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