Clouseau is a Belgian
pop group, having success in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
since being established in the late 1980s. Apart from a brush with English material in the early 1990s they perform in
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
. Their biggest hits are "Daar gaat ze" ("There she goes", a #1 hit in the Netherlands in 1990, and rerecorded in English as "Close Encounters") and "Passie" ("Passion", a #1 hit in the Netherlands in 1995).
History
1987–1990
Clouseau was set up by
Bob Savenberg, who named the band after
Inspector Clouseau
Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical ''The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in the ...
, a character he enjoyed imitating and after whom he had named his
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
.
Initially, Clouseau only performed at local venues. Singer
Koen Wauters
Koen Maria Gaston Wauters (born 17 September 1967) is a Flemish singer, active with the band Clouseau, television presenter, and occasionally actor and race car driver.
Biography
Koen Wauters was born in Halle in 1967. Together with his three br ...
soon left the group to sing for another local band, but in 1987 he was persuaded to return.
The same year they were discovered at the
Marktrock
Marktrock is a music festival held each year around 15 August, in the heart of the university town of Leuven, Belgium. There is also a smaller Marktrock festival in Poperinge, which is held on the last Saturday of August.
The name Marktrock comes ...
festival in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
, Belgium. Their first single "Brandweer" ("Firemen", also a pun that can be interpreted as "Burning again") sold 427 copies. Their
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
debut followed in November of that year.
In 1989 Clouseau participated in the Belgian tryouts for the
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 ...
with the song "Anne". Clouseau came in second, but "Anne" became an enormous hit in Belgium and a (minor) hit in the Netherlands. The popularity of Clouseau in Belgium skyrocketed, and that year Clouseau produced its first album, "Hoezo?" ("Whaddayamean?").
In 1990 "Daar gaat ze" topped the singles charts in both Belgium and the Netherlands; several more hits followed. On September 30,
Tjen Berghmans left the group after a dispute.
In October 1990 Clouseau released their second album, ''Of zo...'' (''Or so...''). In March 1991,
Karel Theys departed, leaving Clouseau as a three-piece. A month later Clouseau came in 16th in the Eurovision Song Contest with "
Geef het op
Belgium was represented by the band Clouseau, with the song "Geef het op", at the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Rome on 4 May.
Before Eurovision
National final
Clouseau were chosen internally by broadcaster BRTN to be tha ...
", but their participation resulted in a European breakthrough.
1991–1999
Afterwards it was announced that Koen Wauters was called up for the army; because of his Clouseau-commitments he only had to serve four weeks and didn't need to shave his head. Fall 1991, Clouseau released their first
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
album; ''Close Encounters'' (of which the title track is a translation of "Daar gaat ze") was a huge success in Germany. The Dutch fans were less keen on the idea of Koen Wauters singing in another language and rather bought the live-album that was released during this period.
In 1992 Clouseau released a
Dutch-language
Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' ...
album, ''Doorgaan'' (''Keep on going''). At the same time, they supported Swedish group
Roxette
Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second a ...
on their European tour performing the ''Close Encounters''-material.
The second English-language album, 1993's ''In every small town'' was recorded in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. However, the album failed critically, receiving little attention outside the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
countries. Since then, Clouseau has refrained from producing English-language music (except for occasional singles, e.g. "
Weather With You
"Weather with You" is a song by Australian-New Zealand rock band Crowded House. It was the third and most successful single released from the group's third studio album '' Woodface'' (1991), reaching top 50 in 10 countries, including the United ...
" (Crowded House cover) in 2000).
In 1995 they released the ''Oker'' album, which featured the single "Passie". In 1996, founder Bob Savenberg left the group. At the time he hosted the television format of the
Ultratop 50
Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...
. Bob Savenberg now works with upcoming artists as a manager.
In September 1996 Clouseau released the ''Adrenaline'' album, which was promoted with a large tour.
On 22 December 1998 singer Koen Wauters married the Dutch television journalist and one-time MTV-presenter
Carolyn Lilipaly
Carolijn "Carolyn" Lilipaly (born July 22, 1969) is a Dutch news anchor and actress.
Dutch-Moluccan Carolijn Lilipaly was born in Middelburg. Her father was former Dutch Labour Party parliament member John Lilipaly (1943-2022). After studying law ...
(they divorced in 2002). 1999 saw the release of ''In Stereo''. Clouseau were heading for a new direction. A live album was released in 2000, and Clouseau were touring Belgium and the Netherlands.
2000–2009
In 2001, Clouseau released the disco oriented CD ''En Dans'' (''And Dance''); the artwork was designed by
Marcel Vanthilt
Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt (; born 24 August 1957) is a Belgian singer and television presenter.Heerema,Y.Marcel Vanthilt – Presentator Marcel Vanthilit NCRV-gids 1, 5 till 11 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
Early life
Mar ...
and the title track became a huge hit. Whilst the fans were waiting for new material, the two remaining bandmembers presented the 2003 and 2004 editions of ''Idool'' (the Belgian version of ''Idols'') on
VTM. In October 2004 they released the ''Vanbinnen'' (''Inside'') album.
Since 2002 Clouseau are playing multiple Christmas shows at the
Sportpaleis Antwerp
The Antwerps Sportpaleis ( eng, Antwerp's Sport Palace), also called Sportpaleis Antwerpen, Sportpaleis Merksem or simply the Sportpaleis, is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a multipurpose hall where concerts, sporting events, festivals and ...
. These concerts are a huge success with tickets selling out well in advance and each year's series surpassing the previous. In 2005, 13 shows attracted over 200,000 visitors in total. Due to Koen's
Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
-participation they couldn't add any further dates.
In 2006 Clouseau performed in Antwerp at the
0110 concerts
The 0110 concerts, held on October 1, 2006 in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi and Ghent, were organised by dEUS frontman Tom Barman, Arno Hintjens and Frederik Sioen to promote tolerance in Belgian society, and "against Vlaams Belang, extremis ...
for tolerance, organised by
Tom Barman
Thomas Andrew Barman (born 1 January 1972), is a Belgian musician and film director.
Barman studied at the film school of St.-Lucas in Brussels, but did not finish his studies because he wished to pursue a career in music.
In 1989, he began by ...
, singer/guitarist with dEUS. At that moment seven shows were added for that year's Christmas stint (Clouseau Speciale Editie).
The band released their latest CD ''Vonken & Vuur'' (''Sparks & Flames'') in March 2007 with "De Tegenpartij" ("The Opposition Party") being the first single. The Dutch release followed a month later.
Their 20th anniversary was celebrated with the tribute album ''Braveau Clouseau''.
On 5 December 2008 Clouseau played the first of their Crescendo Christmas-shows.
In 2009 they expressed their tiredness of Belgian communal tensions in a pro-Belgium song, a novelty in Flemish commercial popular culture. They toured across railway-stations and festivals which included their first show in the Netherlands in nine years.
In 2017 a documentary was aired in honour of their 30th anniversary.
Members
*
Tjen Berghmans (up to September 1990)
*
Karel Theys (up to March 1991)
*
Bob Savenberg (up to 1996)
*
Kris Wauters
Kris Wauters (born 21 December 1964) is a Flemish artist, active with the band Clouseau combined with his brother Koen Wauters
Koen Maria Gaston Wauters (born 17 September 1967) is a Flemish singer, active with the band Clouseau, television pre ...
*
Koen Wauters
Koen Maria Gaston Wauters (born 17 September 1967) is a Flemish singer, active with the band Clouseau, television presenter, and occasionally actor and race car driver.
Biography
Koen Wauters was born in Halle in 1967. Together with his three br ...
Band
*
Jos Michiels (Percussion)
*
Hans Francken
Hans may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Hans (name), a masculine given name
* Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician
** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans
** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...
(Keyboards)
*
Herman Cambré (Drums)
*
Eric Melaerts (Guitar)
*
Tom Lodewyckx (Guitar)
*
Vincent Pierens (Bass Guitar)
Discography
Albums
* ''
Hoezo?'' (1989)
* ''
Of zo...'' (1990)
* ''
Close Encounters'' (1991)
* ''
Live '91'' (1991)
* ''
Doorgaan'' (1993)
* ''
In Every Small Town'' (1993)
* ''
Het Beste van'' (1993)
* ''
Oker
The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction.
Origin and meaning of the name
The ...
'' (1995)
* ''
Adrenaline
Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...
'' (1996)
* ''
87- 97'' (1997)
* ''
In Stereo'' (1999)
* ''
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
'' (2000)
* ''
Ballades'' (2001)
* ''
En Dans'' (2001)
* ''
Live in het Sportpaleis'' DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2003)
* ''
Vanbinnen'' (2004)
* ''
Clouseau in 't lang DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2006)
* ''
Vonken en Vuur'' (2007)
* ''
Zij Aan Zij'' (2009)
* ''Clouseau'' (2013)
* ''Clouseau Danst'' (2016)
* ''Tweesprong'' (2019)
* ''Jonge wolven'' (2022)
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clouseau
Belgian pop music groups
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1991