Career
1996–2004: International success as Jantje Smit
Jantje Smit began his music career in Volendam where he sang in a boys' choir called ''De Zangertjes van Volendam''. Smit was discovered at the age of ten, when the famous Dutch band BZN asked him to participate in a duet with one of their lead singers, Carola Smit. They recorded the song ''Mama'' which was very successful. Because of this success, he was asked to record a solo song, which was produced by three members of BZN, titled ''Ik Zing Dit Lied Voor Jou Alleen'' (I sing this song just for you). The song entered the Dutch charts at number one, something that had never before happened in the history of the Dutch Charts (''Nederlandse Top 40''). In the following two years, Jantje Smit had five more hits including ''Pappie, Waar Blijf Je Nou'' (Daddy, where are you now). All songs were written by BZN members Jan Keizer (singer), Jack Veerman and Jan Tuijp. Smit was also able to achieve success outside of the Netherlands, in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. For a while Smit focused on and performed more often in Germany, where working legislation for minors was less strict, therefore allowing him to perform more. In the Netherlands minors can only perform a couple of times a year. While performing in Germany, he became one of the best-selling Dutch acts abroad. He released ten records sung in German. In 2001 Smit, BZN and their producers received the ''Exportprijs'' for being the bestselling Dutch artists abroad.2005: Just Jan Smit
In 2005 Smit changed his stage name from Jantje Smit to Jan Smit. Starting on 25 March 2005, he appeared in his own reality show ''Gewoon Jan Smit'' (Just Jan Smit), which was a reality TV show and followed his everyday life. Later that year, the show won the ''Gouden Televizier-Ring''References
External links
*