Wouter Hardy (; born 3 April 1991), also known by his stage name HRDY, is a Dutch musician, songwriter and producer. He is known for his work with, among others,

Duncan Laurence Duncan de Moor (; born 11 April 1994), known professionally as Duncan Laurence, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. He represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with his song "Arcade" and went on to win the competition, giv ...

and

Gjon's Tears Gjon Muharremaj (; born 29 June 1998), known professionally as Gjon's Tears, is a Swiss singer and songwriter. He was scheduled to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song " Répondez-moi" prior to the event's ca ...

Career

Hardy was born and raised in

Boxtel Boxtel () is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name derives from Buchestelle and is presumably a combination of 'stelle' (Dutch for stable, safe place) and (deer) buck.2019. Etymologiebank.Nl. Accessed April 27 2019 This i ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...

. After graduating from the Rock City Institute in Eindhoven, he moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

to study at the

Codarts University for the Arts Codarts University for the Arts ( nl, Codarts hogeschool voor de kunsten) is a Dutch vocational university in Rotterdam that teaches music, dance and circus. It was established in its present location in 2000. History Codarts can trace its origin ...

. During his studies, he joined the band of

Sharon Kovacs Sharon Kovacs (born 15 April 1990), known professionally as Kovacs, is a Dutch singer from Baarlo. Career Kovacs studied at Rock City Institute, a vocational school in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. She graduated in 2013. In 2014 she worked wit ...

, with whom he toured through Europe until 2016. In late 2016, Hardy met

through Sony Music Publishing. Together, they worked on the song "

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

" for two years. Prior to its public release, the song was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster

AVROTROS AVROTROS () is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster that is part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. It was founded in 2014 as the result of a merger between the Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) and the Televisie Radio Omroep St ...

to represent the Netherlands in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the 2018 contest with the song " Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broad ...

. "Arcade" went on to win the competition, giving the Netherlands its first Eurovision win since 1975, and became one of the most successful Eurovision Song Contest winning entries on streaming platforms and international charts in recent history. Following the cancellation of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The con ...

, Hardy was invited to participate in a songwriting camp in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

to help write a new song for the Swiss representative

for the 2021 edition. Together with Gjon's Tears and the Belgian songwriter Nina Sampermans, he wrote the song "Ground Zero", which was later translated into French as "

Tout l'univers "Tout l'univers" (; ) is a song by Swiss singer Gjon's Tears released as a single on 10 March 2021 by Jo & Co and Sony Music Entertainment. It was written and composed by the singer himself alongside Nina Sampermans, Wouter Hardy and Xavier Mi ...

". Out of five finalists, a professional jury ultimately chose this song to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. At Eurovision, the entry finished in third place with 432 points, Switzerland's best placement since 1993. In December 2022, it was announced that Hardy and Sampermans will be participating in the 2023 edition of , the Estonian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, as co-writers of the entry "Bridges" by .

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Songwriting discography

Eurovision Song Contest entries

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Wouter 1991 births 21st-century Dutch composers 21st-century male musicians Codarts University for the Arts alumni Academic staff of Codarts University for the Arts Dutch composers Dutch keyboardists Dutch pianists Dutch record producers Dutch songwriters Dutch trumpeters Eurovision Song Contest winners Living people Music directors Musicians from North Brabant People from Boxtel Sound designers