Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt (; born 24 August 1957) is a Belgian singer and television presenter.Heerema,Y.
Marcel Vanthilt – Presentator Marcel Vanthilit
NCRV-gids 1, 5 till 11 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2011.

Early life

Marcel Vanthilt was born on 24 August 1957, in

Lommel, Belgium Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt. Besides residential town of Lommel also has ...

. After attending high school, Marcel studied at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...

and attained a bachelor's degree in political sciences. He came to Brussels because he knew the VRT had offices there. He didn't know at the time there was something like a drama school, like St.-Lukas in Brussels. In 1977, during his spell at the university, he discovered

Punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

Musical career

Arbeid Adelt!

Marcel Vanthilt rose to fame with his group 'Arbeid Adelt!' (literally: "Labor ennobles"), formed in 1981. He provided vocals and played keyboard for the group, singing mainly in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. They made 2 EPs ('Jonge Helden' and 'Le chagrin en Quatre-vingt') and scored minor hits with 'De Dag dat het zonlicht...' and 'Lekker Westers'. Despite the initial success, the group decided to split. One year later, they reformed, only to split again after releasing one single ('Stroom'). The reason behind this was the discontent of the group with their record label, and also differing opinions between the group members about the future of the band.Houbrechts, D
Arbeid Adelt!
"The Belgian Pop and Rock archives", December 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2011. Vanthilt noted the following comment: "They saw us as a kind of clowns. They refused to bring out the songs that were representative of what we were doing, and released "Stroom" en "Witte kom hie". Those were both good jokes, good for a laugh at the live gigs, but not good as a release two years after your last record." In 1991 the group got together again and got a deal from

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. This resulted in their first full CD, 'Des Duivels Oorkussen'. However, they were not able to break through commercially. In 1996 he also recorded the song "I Shoot Dikke Jo" with the

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

n throat singing ensemble

Huun-Huur-Tu Huun-Huur-Tu ( tyv, Хүн Хүртү, Hün Hürtü, ; rus, Хуун-Хуур-Ту, ) are a music group from Tuva, a Russian federative republic situated on the Mongolia–Russia border. Their music includes throat singing, in which the singer ...

Other

Vanthilt tried to gain musical fame with two other groups: "The Yéh-yéhs" and "Groep Z"(in 2004). Both stints were unsuccessful. He also designed the album cover of

Clouseau Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical ''The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in the ...

's record ''En Dans'' (2001).

Television career

VPRO

In the early 1980s Vanthilt worked for

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...

on Dutch television. One of the projects he worked on was the presentation of ''

Big Fun in the Big Town ''Big Fun in the Big Town'' is a Dutch music documentary made by the VPRO in 1986. It was directed by Bram van Splunteren and presented by Belgian TV presenter Marcel Vanthilt. The documentary was shot on location in New York City and consisted of ...

(1986)'', a documentary about Hip hop music, credited for making the genre very popular in the Netherlands. It became available on DVD in 2012.

MTV VJ

From 1987 to 1990, Vanthilt lived in London. There he became a VJ for the new music station

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

. His most famous programme there was "Cokes & Vanthilt", which he presented in co-operation with

Ray Cokes Ray Cokes (born Raymond Christopher Cokes on 24 February 1958) is an English television presenter. Career Early life Ray's father was an officer in the Royal Navy, who was stationed at various navy bases around the world. When Ray was 15 the ...

. The two got together again on New Year's Eve 2008 for a one time show on Belgian network

Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

.TV-visie
Cokes en Vanthilt in de overgang op Canvas
30 December 2008

United States

From 1996 to 1998, Vanthilt moved to the United States, in pursuit of his wife. He tried to launch an acting career, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He can be seen as an extra in an episode of

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

(S3E17). After he divorced his wife, he returned to Belgium. He also wrote columns and was reporter for the magazine Panorama. He bundled his columns in a book, called Ha!Merika! and also adapted it to a theatre show.

Belgian TV and radio career

From 1998 onwards, Vanthilt became involved with the media in Belgium, mostly on Flemish radiostation

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...

and TV-station

Eén Eén (stylized as één; en, "one") is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadca ...

. On TV, he hosted various shows, such as quizzes ('Quix', 'ViaVia', 'De lage Landen'). His most famous quiz was perhaps 'Tien voor Taal', a language-centered quiz, which he co-hosted with Dutch presenter Anita Witzier. He had a short stint with vtm, for which he hosted 'Tilt' (1993–1995), but soon returned to the VRT. He further hosted reality show "Wit in Vegas" (2005), in which he accompanied couples wanting to get married in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. On 26 November 2005, Vanthilt co-hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Conteset with

Maureen Louys Maureen Louys (born 3 November 1978 in Liège) is a Belgian television presenter. Career In 2005 she co-presented the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Marcel Vanthilt. Louys still remained associated with the regular Eurovision Song Con ...

. In recent years, Vanthilt has appeared on screen as a talkshow host. From 2006 to 2009 he appeared as a weekly guest in late night talkshow "De laatste show". He continued on to host the summer talkshow ''Zomer 2007'' and ''Zomer 2008'', in alternation with

Ben Crabbé Benjamin Bert Carl (Ben) Crabbé (Tienen, 12 November 1962) is a famous Belgian quizmaster, talkshow host and musician. He became well known as drummer in Belgian rockband De Kreuners. He is quizmaster at Belgium's longest running quiz-show Blokke ...

. Since 2009 he has his own summer talkshow, ''Villa Vanthilt''. These shows are recorded in a makeshift studio in a Flemish city. In 2009, the cities chosen were

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

and

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

; in 2010 Hasselt and

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

. He has since started the 2011-season of Villa Vanthilt, five weeks in

Dendermonde Dendermonde (; french: Termonde, ) is a city in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Dendermonde and the towns of Appels, Baasrode, Grembergen, Mespelare, Oudegem, Schoonaarde, and Sint-Gillis-b ...

and five weeks in

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The ...

. His program is scheduled to run to the end of August. Since 2009, Vanthilt also hosts ''Ook getest op mensen'', a TV show mainly focusing on health related consumer issues (

).Eén
Ook getest op mensen
, Eén His most important radio show was "Was het nu 70, 80 of 90" (Was it 70, 80 or 90?), but he also hosted the "Album 100".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanthilt, Marcel 20th-century Belgian male singers Living people Belgian radio presenters Belgian television presenters Belgian rock singers Belgian pop singers English-language singers from Belgium Belgian game show hosts Belgian television talk show hosts VJs (media personalities) Album-cover and concert-poster artists People from Lommel 1957 births 21st-century Belgian male singers Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni