Lodewijk Ferdinand Dieben (19 April 1890, in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

– 24 June 1959, in

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

), better known under his pseudonym Lou Bandy, was a Dutch singer and conferencier who was one of the most popular artists in the Netherlands, between both world wars. Among his most famous songs are: Zoek de zon op' (Look for the sun), Schep vreugde in het leven (Put joy in life) and Louise zit niet op je nagels te bijten (Louise, don't bite your nails).

Early life

Lodewijk Ferdinand Dieben was raised in a working-class family in

Career

Dieben worked as a

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, house servant,

street singer Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...

and as a conscriptionist with the Navy before he started a serious career in variety in 1915. At first he performed together with his brother under the name The Bandy Brothers (Bandy being an Anglicisation of his last name Dieben with the syllables reversed.) Soon ts became apparent that the characters of the brothers were too different to work together; in contrast with Willy, Lou was known as a difficult person. Lou continued under the name Lou Bandy. In 1921 he married the pianist Eugenie Küch, a German officer's daughter who would have a great impact on his career: she taught him decent social skills, taught him the importance of speaking proper Dutch, and helped him get his first lucrative contracts. With her support, the young man from the Hague found himself within a few years working with the top artists and theater impresarios. Bandy was known by the public as a singer of happy lyrics, but to those who knew him better, he had a less upbeat image. He also married the much younger

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in 1948, and in 1952 married 19-year-old girl Carla van den Hurk. He divorced Carla in 1958 and was getting lonely. When he was not popular anymore and he became very lonely he killed himself in his Zandvoort apartment close to the sea.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bandy, Lou 1890 births 1959 suicides Dutch cabaret performers Dutch male comedians Dutch comedy musicians 20th-century Dutch male singers Musicians from The Hague 20th-century comedians