Wladimir "Wally" Tax (; 14 February 1948 – 10 April 2005) was a Dutch singer and songwriter. He was founder and
frontman of the
Nederbeat
Nederbeat (also: Nederbiet) was the Dutch rock boom of mid-1960s influenced by British beat groups and rock bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and, much like British freakbeat, it is essentially the Dutch counterpart to American g ...
group
The Outsiders (1959–1969) and the rock group
Tax Free (1969–1971).
After commercial and artistic success with The Outsiders in the late 1960s, he had a brief solo career in the 1970s, and then was a successful songwriter, producing a number of hit songs for Dutch artists. He faded into obscurity in the 1980s; after his death in 2005, two benefit concerts in Amsterdam proved his lasting popularity and influence.
Early life
Wladimir Tax was born on 14 February 1948 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
in the
Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. His Dutch father and his Russian
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
mother had met in a concentration camp during World War II. He grew up in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
and learned English at an early age from contacts with American sailors, for whom he acted as a
pimp.
Music career
The Outsiders
In 1959, at age 11, he was one of the founding members of the beat band
The Outsiders.
The band sang English lyrics, with Tax as the main songwriter;
Tax sang and played guitar and
harmonica. Even while playing with The Outsiders, Tax recorded a solo album (with a symphonic orchestra), ''Love-In''.
The Outsiders reached a measure of success, opening up for
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
in 1966 and scoring a number of hits in the Netherlands.
They were one of the best-known bands of the
Nederbeat
Nederbeat (also: Nederbiet) was the Dutch rock boom of mid-1960s influenced by British beat groups and rock bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and, much like British freakbeat, it is essentially the Dutch counterpart to American g ...
movement — when they signed with
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany.
Phonogram was the nam ...
in 1968, ''
Billboard'' reported on it. Leading what ''Billboard'' called "the leading Dutch beat group," Tax had a high-profile—he was reported to have the longest hair in the country, and lived a lavish lifestyle involving expensive dinners, chauffeur-driven cars, and friendships with
Little Richard and
Johnny Hallyday
Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France.
During a career spanning 57 ...
, as well as rumors of an affair with
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...
.
Although The Outsiders' records were not distributed in the United States, Tax did go overseas and made friends with notable musicians such as
Tim Hardin
James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk and blues musician and composer. As well as releasing his own material, several of his songs, including " If I Were a Carpenter" and "Reason to Believe", beca ...
,
Richie Havens, and
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member ...
, and attended the
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquar ...
. He played with Hardin and
Jimi Hendrix at the latter's Electric Ladyland Studio.
As he explained in his 1998 autobiography, success came too quick for him, and alcohol and drugs took their toll, and combined with a lack of financial security (he admitted not being good at bookkeeping since his "way of life" had killed too many brain cells) the next decades of Tax's life were chaotic.
After recording three albums, The Outsiders broke up in 1969.
In 1997 The Outsiders came together for the last time to play a reunion tour in the Netherlands.
The tour was short-lived because of Tax's unpredictable behavior.
Jerome Blanes wrote ''Outsiders by Insiders'' around this time, the official biography of the band.
Solo career
Tax, after briefly heading a band called
Tax Free, went solo. He was accompanied, in succession, by Bamboule (1972), George Cash (1973), Watermen (1973), and The Mustangs (1976).
In 1974, he won the
Silver Harp, an award for musical talent and had significant success with a couple of solo singles, "Miss Wonderful" and "It ain't no use". The end of his playing career was "Let's Dance" (1977), which became a minor hit in the Netherlands. Fourteen years after "Tax Tonight", in 1989, he recorded his fourth solo album with
The Music. The album was very well received by critics but the sales were low. It takes until 2002 before his next and last solo effort was released. On "The Entertainer" Tax made a musical return to his rock roots. Again well received by critics, "The Entertainer" was not the success Tax hoped for. On the album Tax sings about his life as 'an entertainer' who is mostly misunderstood by his public.
Songwriting
After his playing career had ended, he concerned himself mainly with songwriting and wrote a number of hits for Dutch artists such as
Lee Towers
Leendert "Leen" Huijzer (; born 23 March 1946), better known by his stage name Lee Towers, is a Dutch singer with international success. He remains as one of the best-selling artists and holds the record for the most concerts performed by a singl ...
("It's Raining in my Heart") and
Champagne
Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...
("Valentino", "Oh Me Oh My Goodbye", and "Rock 'n Roll Star", the latter charting at #2 in the Netherlands and #83 in the United States).
Personal decline and death
The 1980s saw his personal decline, starting with the slow death by cancer of his long-time partner Laurie Langenbach, who died in 1984 — according to close friend
Armand, he never recovered from her death and for the next twenty years lived surrounded by her personal belongings.
Efforts to revive a music career appear hampered by personal problems caused by alcoholism and tax problems.
Tax died in 2005 in relative obscurity, bothered by financial and physical problems. He was buried in Amsterdam, after a gathering in
Paradiso in his honor raised enough money for his funeral. A year later, a benefit concert was held in Paradiso to raise funds for a monument to be placed on his grave. The monument, three guitar necks crossing, continues to draw visitors.
His biography, ''Wally Tax - Leven en Lijden van een Outsider'', was written by Rutger Vahl and
came out ten years after his death in 2015.
Discography
Solo
Albums
*''Love In'' (
LP,
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
, 1967)
*''Wally Tax'' (
LP, Ariola IT 87762, 1974)
*''Tax Tonight'' (
LP, Ariola XOT 89244, 1975)
*''Springtime in Amsterdam'' (with The Music) (
LP, 1989)
*''The Entertainer'' (
CD,
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
, 2002)
Singles
With The Outsiders
*''Outsiders'' (LP, Relax 30007, 1967)
*''Songbook'' (LP, Teenbeat APLP 102, 1967)
*''C.Q.'' (LP,
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens A.G. of Germany.
Phonogram was the nam ...
, 236803, 1968)
*''Outsiders / Wally Tax - Live 1968-2002'' (CD, VPRO/3 voor 12, 002, 2006)
*''The Outsiders, Photo Sound Book'' (Book + CD, Poparchief Nederland, 2010)
With Tax Free
* ''Tax Free'' (Polydor, 1971)
Bibliography
*
* Blanes, Jerome (2012 - English edition). Outsiders by insiders.
* Vahl, Rutger (2015). Wally Tax - Leven en Lijden van een Outsider.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tax, Wally
1948 births
2005 deaths
20th-century Dutch male singers
Dutch people of Russian descent
Dutch Romani people
Dutch male songwriters
Dutch songwriters
Musicians from Amsterdam
People of Russian-Romani descent
Romani singers