Lou Deprijck (; born 1946 in

Lessines Lessines (; nl, Lessen, ; pcd, Lissene, wa, Lissene) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. As of the 2014 census, The municipality's total population was 18,637. The total area is 72.29 km² (27 ...

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 ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

singer and record producer. He was a major figure in the Belgian pop scene of the 1970s and 1980s, with more than 20 million copies of his compositions sold worldwide. He is best known for having co-written with Yves Lacomblez, and for having de facto sung, the

Plastic Bertrand Roger François Jouret (born 24 February 1954), better known as Plastic Bertrand, is a Belgian musician, songwriter, producer, editor and television presenter, best known for the 1977 international hit single " Ça plane pour moi". Biography ...

1978 song " Ça plane pour moi".

Music career

Early work and Two Man Sound

His first group Pop' Liberty 6 had a complete flop in 1967 with "Je Suis Pop Et Tout À Fait Dingue". However he later found success with Two Man Sound, a Latin-pop outfit formed with Sylvain Vanholme of the

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along ...

and Yvan Lacomblez. Two Man Sound sold over a million copies of their 1975 single "Charlie Brown" while the album ''Disco Samba'', with the eponymous song, had sales of around 1.4 million copies in Latin America.Le Vif/L'Express, 13th Aug 2010 edition
Deprijck also had a major 1978 solo success in France and Belgium with

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

song "Kingston, Kingston", under the moniker Lou & The Hollywood Bananas.

Plastic Bertrand and Viktor Lazlo

In the English-speaking world, Deprijck's best known hit was " Ça plane pour moi", which he recorded and sang for

, who remains generally credited for the song (and was upheld legally in 2006 as being entitled to be called its artist). In fact, Deprijck was also the "voice" of Plastic Bertrand's first four albums. In 2006, a Belgian appeal court ruled that Bertrand was the "legal performer" of the classic track, but the ruling was overturned in 2010. In the 1980s, Deprijck was also the creative force behind the success of

Viktor Lazlo The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

, born Sonia Dronier, whom he met at Le Mirano nightclub in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. She initially did backing vocals for Lou & the Hollywood Bananas before taking the name Viktor Lazlo from a character in the 1942 film '' Casablanca'' at Deprijck's suggestion. He produced the self-titled album ''

'' in 1987 for her, as well as the album '' Hot & Soul'' in 1989. In 1984, calling himself Lou Van Houten, Deprijck released the album ''Collures'' with Boris Bergman under the pseudonym Les Epatants.

Present life in Thailand

Deprijck currently resides largely near Pattaya, Thailand. The story of his life in Thailand was shown in the VTM TV channel documentary ''Vlamingen in Pattaya (Flemings in Pattaya)'' as part of the Belgian news program ''Telefacts''. Life in Pattaya inspired him to rewrite the text of his most famous song "Kingston, Kingston" into "Pattaya, Pattaya", which soon became the unofficial hymn of Pattaya.

References

External links