Jacques Hustin (15 March 1940 – 6 April 2009) was a Belgian singer-songwriter and artist who was successful in his homeland in both fields, and is best known internationally for his participation in the 1974

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 ...

Early career

Hustin was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. From an early age, Hustin was interested in both music and painting. He studied art and design, and worked at various times as an illustrator, stage designer and composer of

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...

. He released his first album in 1966 and moved to Paris, where he lived for several years. In 1968, he was winner of the first edition of the musical contest "Cerbul de aur" ("Golden Dear"), in the city of Brasov, Romania. His song was "Camelias". He imposed himself on the scene where well-known singers were also performing during the festival:

Los Machucambos Los Machucambos was a music band formed in Paris in 1959. The two guitar players were Rafael Gayoso (from Spain), Milton Zapata (from Peru) and the singer was Julia Cortés (from Costa Rica) . In 1960 Zapata was replaced by Romano Zanotti (pseudon ...

, Hugues Aufray, Caterina Caselli, Edita Piekha, Amália Rodrigues, Rika Zarai,

Rita Pavone Rita Pavone (; born August 23, 1945) is an Italian-Swiss ballad and rock singer and actress, who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Singing career She was born in Turin, Italy. In 1962 she participated in, and won, the first Festival degli Scon ...

, Maria Mitiieva,

Bobby Solo Roberto Satti better known as Bobby Solo (born 18 March 1945) is an Italian singer, musician and film actor. Singing career In 1964, Solo participated in the Sanremo Music Festival with the song " Una lacrima sul viso" ("A Tear on your Face", w ...

Jean-Claude Pascal Jean-Claude Villeminot (24 October 1927 – 5 May 1992), better known as Jean-Claude Pascal (), was a French comedian, actor, singer and writer. Early life He was born in Paris into a family of wealthy textile manufacturers. His mother, ...

. Second place was Czech singer Josef Laufer. Third place was another Belgian singer, Kalinka.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1974 Hustin's self-penned song "

Fleur de liberté Belgium was represented by Jacques Hustin, with the song "Fleur de liberté", at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in Brighton, England. Hustin was the winner of the Belgian national final for the contest, held on 14 J ...

" ("Flower of Liberty") was chosen as Belgium's representative in the nineteenth

, which took place on 6 April in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England. The 1974 contest is notable for the participation of a number of artists who were already internationally known names (

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

, Gigliola Cinquetti, Mouth & MacNeal), also as the contest which served to launch the winning group,

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

, into global superstardom. In this very competitive field, "Fleur de liberté" finished in ninth place of 17 entries. In 1978, Hustin took part in the Belgian Eurovision selection for a second time, but on that occasion his song "L'an 2000 c'est demain" ("The Year 2000 is Tomorrow") lost out to "

L'amour ça fait chanter la vie Belgium was represented by Jean Vallée, with the song "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris. Before Eurovision Eurosong French-language broadcaster RTBF was in charge of ...

" by

Jean Vallée Jean Vallée (born Paul Goeders in Verviers on 2 October 1941 – 12 March 2014, Clermont-sur-Berwinne) was a Belgian songwriter and performer. Vallée was appointed Knight of the Order of the Crown by HM Albert II in 1999. Career In 1967 Val ...

(which went on to finish second in the 1978 contest, Belgium's highest placing to that date).

Later career

In 1975 Hustin hosted a series of programmes called ''La Guimbarde'' for Belgian television channel

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

, which featured singers and musicians from

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

. Hustin continued recording and performing until the late 1980s, when he decided to bring his musical career to a close in order to concentrate on painting. He ran an art workshop in the Belgian

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

for ten years, and continued to paint up until his death.

Death

Hustin died of undisclosed causes on 6 April 2009, aged 69.obituary

(in French)

References

* (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hustin, Jacques 1940 births 2009 deaths Artists from Liège Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium 20th-century Belgian male singers 20th-century Belgian singers Belgian singer-songwriters Belgian male singer-songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1974 Musicians from Liège Walloon musicians