Ben Saunders (born 9 July 1983) is a Dutch singer who won the first-ever title of the Dutch singing competition series ''

The Voice of Holland ''The Voice of Holland'', also known as ''TVOH'', is a Dutch reality TV singing competition, that became a near global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol and musician Roel van Velzen, in the Netherlands airing on RTL 4. ...

'' broadcast on

RTL 4 RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with in ...

. The final of 2010–2011 season was held live on 21 January 2011. Saunders is also a

tattoo artist A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via an ...

. He is popularly known as "Tattoo Ben".

Early life

Saunders is of English origin. He is the younger brother of

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

who on 22 January 2011, won the title of the third season (2010–2011) of the Dutch music competition ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Realit ...

'', notably only a day after Ben's victory on ''The Voice''. Brothers Ben and Dean Saunders both started applying to talent competitions early like for the series ''Daddy's Wish''. They also took part in 1998 in ''Life is like a box of chocolates'' program.

Career

1998–2003: Follow That Dream

In 2000, Dean and Ben Saunders both took part in

's ''Alles voor de band: Follow that dream''. They were part of the band

Follow That Dream ''Follow That Dream'' is a 1962 American musical film made by Mirisch Productions and starring Elvis Presley. The film was based on the 1959 novel ''Pioneer, Go Home!'' by Richard P. Powell. Producer Walter Mirisch liked the film's song "Follow T ...

(F.T.D.) (that included besides the two brothers Vanessa Eman, Rosa Vuik, Linda van Toornburg and Peter van der Meer. The band was signed to Dino Music record label. Their debut single the self-titled "Follow That Dream" was released in November 2000 reaching No. 25 in the Dutch Top 40. 6 months later, the band split after the great popularity of the rival ''Starmaker'' show.

2003: Eurovision Song Contest entry

On 15 February 2003 the Saunders brothers took part in the 2003 Dutch ''

Nationaal Songfestival (; ) was an annual music competition, which was originally organised by the Dutch public broadcaster (NTS), and later by the (NOS) and (TROS). It was staged almost every year between 1956 and 2012 to determine the country's entry for the Eu ...

'', a Dutch national music pre-selection contest for qualification to

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

to be held in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Latvia. They performed the song "Stand As One" in the third heat under the name "The Brothers" getting just 10 points and finishing with 3% of the popular vote as seventh out of 8 participants.

2010–present: ''The Voice of Holland''

In 2010, Ben Saunders applied to ''

'' singing competition proving to be very popular with both judges and the voting public, after singing in his audition "

Use Somebody "Use Somebody" is a song recorded by the American rock group Kings of Leon. It was the second single from the band's fourth studio album '' Only by the Night'' (2008), released on December 8, 2008. The single received heavy airplay in Scandinavi ...

" from

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...

. Ben was coached by Roel van Velzen. In the final, he sang his number one single, his cover version rendition of "

If You Don't Know Me by Now "If You Don't Know Me by Now" is a song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, and recorded by the Philadelphia soul musical group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. It became their first hit after being released as a single in September 1972, topp ...

" and duetted with Welsh singer Duffy on her song " Warwick Avenue" and won by 59% of the votes against runner-up Pearl Jozefzoon. Saunders has charted with four different songs in the top 15 of the Dutch charts, including attaining No. 1 position with his single "Kill For a Broken Heart".

Personal life

Ben Saunders was born in England in 1983, but moved to the Netherlands in 1986, aged three. He resided in

Hoorn Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...

, about 35 kilometres north of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Before applying to the competition, Ben Saunders worked as a

. He owned a tattoo parlour in Hoorn. He was popularly nicknamed "Tattoo Ben" because of his extensive tattoos. In 2014 Saunders joined the notorious

Satudarah MC is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club that has spread the globe since being founded in the Netherlands town of Moordrecht in 1990. It differs from most other outlaw motorcycle clubs in the fact that it welcomes all races into its club, ...

motor club; club meetings are occasionally hosted in his tattoo parlour since. In May 2015 Saunders was arrested for assaulting a traffic warden.Ben Saunders opgepakt voor mishandeling
Algemeen Dagblad May 5, 2015

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Ben Dutch people of English descent English male singers 1983 births Dutch male singers English emigrants to the Netherlands Living people British tattoo artists The Voice (franchise) winners Singers from London 21st-century English singers 21st-century Dutch singers 21st-century British male singers MTV Europe Music Award winners