Roel van Velzen (; born 20 March 1978), better known as VanVelzen, is a
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
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* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
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People E ...
singer-songwriter. Besides being known for his short stature, he and his band enjoy a huge live reputation; they have played at virtually every festival in the Netherlands, shared the stage with
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
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's
Brian May
Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...
, and supported
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...
,
Bon Jovi and German megastars
Reamonn
Reamonn was a German pop rock band fronted by local-based Irish singer/songwriter Rea Garvey. Formed in 1999, they have recorded and released a total of six full-length studio albums which were highly successful in Germany and also saw some succ ...
. He also had an international airplay hit when DJ
Armin van Buuren remixed VanVelzen's song "
Broken Tonight".
Early life
Van Velzen was born in
Delft, The Netherlands. His father was a musician, and had a large influence on him as a child. On his sixth birthday, his mother's present was a drum kit. The young Van Velzen was actively involved in several bands at school and wrote music for the annual Christmas musical. He went on to study Creative Communications at the
Inholland College of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam, and won the Heineken Student Music Award in 1999 with his band ''The Goldfish''.
He went on to play with ''Crazy Pianos'' and during a concert at the
GelreDome
The GelreDome () is a football stadium in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. It is one of the largest and most modern stadiums in the country, built from 1996 to 1998 at a cost equivalent to €75 million, that opened on 25 March 1998. The stadium ...
, he met his current manager, Ruud H. Vinke. Between 2002 and 2005, he was part of the improv theatre group ''Op Sterk Water'', with whom he performed twice at the
Lowlands Festival.
In early 2005, VanVelzen was introduced to Dutch music producers Holger Schwedt, Nando Eweg and John Ewbank, and they decided to start working on an album.
Career
2006–2007: Breakthrough and ''Unwind''
VanVelzen's first single, "
Baby Get Higher", was a cover of songwriter
David Sneddon
David Sneddon (born 15 September 1978) is a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and music producer of contemporary pop music. He began his career performing on stage and television, singing lead roles in stage musicals in Glasgow. In 2002, h ...
's 2003 single, and peaked at No. 17 on the
Dutch Top 40 and the song was also a big radio airplay hit.
His second single, "Burn" was released in January 2007 and was a top 10 hit in The Netherlands. His debut album, ''Unwind'', followed shortly afterwards on 16 March and was a phenomenal all-round hit, debuting at number one on the Dutch charts and remained in the charts for over a year. It won several awards, including the 3FM Award for Best Newcomer, and Best Album at the 2007
TMF Awards
The TMF Awards were an annual television awards show broadcast live on TMF (The Music Factory).
The first Dutch TMF Awards were held in 1995, as a brand extension to the recently launched local Dutch music channel TMF. The show was very small an ...
.
There were two more singles from the album; "Deep" and "Shine A Little Light" were both released in May 2007.
2008–2009: ''Take Me In'' and ''Hear Me Out''
VanVelzen went on to have a sell-out tour in The Netherlands in 2008 and introduced fans to his new single, "When Summer Ends". The song, which was released in January 2008, VanVelzen wrote with John Ewbank, was the theme song for the summer movie ''
Summer Heat'' and is VanVelzen's highest chart hit to date, peaking at No. 6. The song was nominated for an
Edison Award
The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed b ...
in 2009.
Aside from his own tour, VanVelzen opened for various large acts throughout 2008, including
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...
at the
Heineken Music Hall
AFAS Live (formerly known as the Heineken Music Hall) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, near the Johan Cruyff Arena. The big hall, named "Black Box" has a capacity of 6,000 and is 3000 m2; a smaller hall for after parties (Beat Box) ha ...
and
Bon Jovi at the
Amsterdam ArenA
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
, as well as several smaller festivals throughout the Netherlands. That year, 3FM gave him the award for Best Live Act.
Towards the end of 2008, several German radio stations began to pick up on VanVelzen's music, particularly "Baby Get Higher", which was used for a TV commercial and peaked at No. 30 on the German airplay charts. He recorded a new video especially for the German market at the end of 2008.
2009 saw the release of the second single from the forthcoming second album. "On My Way" was released on 15 January 2009 and peaked at No. 29. The second album was released in two parts; ''Take Me In'' was released in May and ''Hear Me Out'' followed in September. The two-part was eventually certified Gold in 2010. "Love Song" became the third single from the album and was a huge summer hit in the Netherlands that year.
In the autumn of 2009, DJ
Armin van Buuren remixed and released "
Broken Tonight", one of the songs from the new album, and the track became a hit in several countries outside of the Netherlands, including making No. 18 in the United States' ''Hot Dance Chart''.
2010–2011: "The Voice of Holland"
In 2010, VanVelzen was invited to be a judge on
The Voice of Holland
''The Voice of Holland'', also known as ''TVOH'', is a Dutch reality TV singing competition, that became a near global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol and musician Roel van Velzen, in the Netherlands airing on RTL 4.
...
, a new style of talent show with 'Blind Auditions', where the judges hear the voice of the artist without seeing their face, a concept that was thought up by VanVelzen himself. VanVelzen went on to mentor the 2010 winner,
Ben Saunders. VanVelzen returned for the second and third season. After that, VanVelzen announced he would not be returning for the fourth season in 2013.
Towards the end of 2010, VanVelzen embarked on a 34-date ''Hear Me Out'' theatre tour of the Netherlands, and sold out every venue.
On 3 March, VanVelzen received the prestigious Dutch music award, the
Golden Harp, for his contribution to Dutch pop music, becoming one of only 42 artists to ever have done so.
In May, VanVelzen released the first single from his forthcoming album called "Too Good To Lose".
2012–present: ''The Rush Of Life''
In 2012, the album ''The Rush of Life'' was released, and three further singles followed: "The Rush of Life", "Cross Your Heart" and "Sing Sing Sing". VanVelzen and band took the album out on the road during a 50+ date theatre tour (including a reprise tour) in 2012 and 2013, and often played in front of a sold-out crowd.
In November 2013, a new single "The Blessed Days" was released, as the title track to the Dutch romantic comedy movie ''Soof''. The video to the song is a re-make of
Billy Ocean
Leslie Sebastian Charles, (born 21 January 1950), better known by his stage name Billy Ocean, is a British recording artist who had a string of R&B international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British R&B singer-son ...
's "When The Going Gets Tough" and features the main characters of the movie, including choreographer
Dan Karaty
Daniel Quinn Karaty (born October 1, 1976) is an American TV personality, actor, producer, dancer and choreographer. He has performed with and/or created routines for pop superstars such as Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and * ...
. The video won the 100% NL TV AWARD for 'best video of the year 2013'.
Personal life
VanVelzen married his girlfriend Marloes on 1 January 2011. On his Twitter account, he claimed the marriage occurred in the first minute of the new year.
They had their first son in February 2012, and a second in April 2013.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanvelzen
1978 births
Living people
Dutch male singer-songwriters
Dutch pop singers
People from Delft
Entertainers with dwarfism
21st-century Dutch male singers
21st-century Dutch singers