Manke Nelis (born Cornelis Pieters; 1919-1993) was a Dutch singer in the
levenslied Levenslied (Dutch, literally "life song" or "song about life") is a sentimental Dutch-language subgenre of popular music. ''Levenslied'' lyrics can be sweet or bitter, light and sentimental, but also reflective and dark, about subjects such as love, ...
genre.
Career
Manke Nelis was born in Groenlo on 16 December 1919 and began his musical career as a bass player, often accompanying his brother-in-law, accordionist
Johnny Meijer
Johnny Meijer (born 'Jan Cornelis Meijer' 1 October 1912 in Amsterdam; died 8 January 1992 in Amsterdam) was an accordionist who played classical, folk, and swing.
For a time he was known as a jazz accordionist and his 75th birthday was celebra ...
. In the 1950s he performed under the stage name Carlo Pietro and started singing the Amsterdam ''levenslied''. A motorcycle accident in France and a subsequent medical error cost him a leg; he reportedly spent the more than 100,000 guilders he received as compensation within a year. His biggest hit was "Kleine Jodeljongen" in 1987.
In 1987 he narrowly survived a bus crash on an American tour with Dutch artists, near
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. He died of cancer 8 October 1993, at age 73.
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Legacy
A statue of Manke Nelis was placed on the Johnny Jordaan Square off the Elandsgracht
The Elandsgracht is a street and former canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
It runs between the Prinsengracht and the Singelgracht in the Jordaan neighborhood of the Amsterdam-Centrum district.
Bridge 169 over the Singelgracht and Bridge 107 ove ...
, in the company of statues for Johnny Jordaan
Johnny Jordaan was the pseudonym for Johannes Hendricus van Musscher (7 February 1924 – 8 January 1989), a Dutch singer of popular music, in particular the genre known as ''levenslied'', a Dutch variety of the French ''chanson''. He was well kn ...
, Tante Leen
Tante is the French, Dutch (Nederland), German, Danish, and Yiddish word for aunt (female sibling of a parent)
''Tante'' may also refer to:
* A novel by Anne Douglas Sedgwick, upon which the film ''The Impossible Woman'' is based
* Tante Leen (19 ...
, and Johnny Meijer.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelis, Manke
1919 births
1993 deaths
Dutch levenslied singers
Musicians from Amsterdam
20th-century Dutch male singers