Hendrik Otto "Henk" Westbroek (born 27 February 1952) is a Dutch radiohost, singer, songwriter and former owner of a café named 'Stairway to Heaven' in the city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

. He was also a

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

for Leefbaar Utrecht and

Leefbaar Nederland Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party. History Historically there have always been parties in States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and municipa ...

in 1998.

Music career

Westbroek was born in the former municipality of

Zuilen Zuilen is a district in the Northwest section of the Dutch city of Utrecht. Zuilen is bordered by the train line and the river Vecht, the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the street Marnixlaan, and the city borders at the north. The neighborhood Eli ...

, and studied sociology at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, completing his course in 1973. In 1978, Westbroek, together with "the other Henk" (Henk Temming), formed the band Het Goede Doel. He scored several top ten hits with Temming and Het Goede Doel became one of the most successful Dutch language bands of the 1980s. In 1991, Het Goede Doel stopped performing. They had a brief reunion in 2001 and reunited again in 2008, producing a new record, ''Gekkenwerk''. Since 1991, Henk Westbroek has been performing solo with his band "Henk Westbroek & Consorten." As a solo artist he has met with success and his single "Zelfs je naam is mooi" spent 42 weeks in the Dutch chart

Mega Top 100 __NOTOC__ Mega Top 30 is a Dutch music chart compiled by SoundAware and broadcast every Saturday from 14:00 - 16:00 on NPO 3FM. It originally started on November 30, 1963, as the Tijd voor Teenagers Top 10. Throughout the years, the chart has had se ...

Radio career

In 1981 he started as a radio host. With ''Vara's Vuurwerk'' (''Vara's Fireworks'', with Vara being the name of the broadcoaster) he hosted the first programm with only hard rock music on Dutch public radio in the 80's. His show ''Denk aan Henk'' ("Think about Henk") on Dutch radio station

3FM NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times. History As R ...

ran four days a week from 1991 to 2003. He resumed the program, renamed ''Denk als Henk & Friends'' ("Think like Henk & Friends") at

Yorin FM HitRadio Veronica was a Dutch commercial radio station that was created when the public broadcaster Veronica Omroep Organisatie left the public system in August 1995, creating the Holland Media Groep with CLT (RTL). Before that Veronica bought t ...

, from August 2004 to March 2006. Since 2006 he has a daily webradio show on KXRadio, an internet radio station founded by

Rob Stenders Rob Stenders (born 18 April 1965) is a Dutch radio DJ. Stenders had a long-lasting career in radio starting with local radio stations. Stenders followed up Edwin Evers with the 3FM morning show "Stenders Vroeg" for the public radio and televisi ...

Politics

In the 1990s, he became active in Utrecht politics and was elected as a city council member for , a local populist party.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westbroek, Henk 1952 births Living people Dutch singer-songwriters Dutch republicans Dutch political party founders Livable Netherlands politicians Municipal councillors of Utrecht (city) People from Utrecht (city)