Gerwin Pardoel (born 12 May 1981), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Gers Pardoel or mononymously as Gers, is a Dutch

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. He rose to fame in 2009, due to his successful collaboration with

The Opposites The Opposites are a Dutch rap group, consisting of Willem de Bruin (Willy) and Twan van Steenhoven (Big2). The two started rapping when de Bruin had to write a rap for his teacher as a punishment. Willem realized his rap potential and decided to ...

on the single " Broodje Bakpao". Pardoel's debut studio album '' Deze wereld is van jou'' was released in November 2011 and was certified Platinum by the

NVPI NVPI (Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers) () is the Dutch trade association of the entertainment industry. The NVPI represents most of the Dutch record companies, video distributors, and game-softw ...

. The

Nederhop Dutch hip hop or Nederhop ("Netherhop") is hip hop / rap music created by Dutch speaking musicians in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). Although the first Dutch rappers in Europe typically wrote in the English language, this began to cha ...

artist is best known for his number-one single " Ik neem je mee", which became the most successful Dutch-language and Dutch-artist hit in the

Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 () is a weekly music chart compiled by ''Stichting Nederlandse Top 40''. It started as a radio program titled "Veronica Top 40", on the offshore radio, offshore station Radio Veronica in 1965. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" ...

ever.

Biography

1981–2002: Early life

Gerwin Pardoel was born on 12 May 1981 in

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

, thirty-five minutes before his younger twin brother Robbie. When Pardoel was young, his father was purchaser at a nursing home. Later, his father worked for the

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

De Efteling in

Kaatsheuvel Kaatsheuvel () is a town in the province of North Brabant, Netherlands situated along highways N261 and N628. With a population of roughly 16,600, it is the largest town in and the capital of the municipality of Loon op Zand, which also consists ...

. His mother was a housewife and took care of the children. When Pardoel was 17 years old, his life changed when his mother died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. His life was turned upside down and the relation with his father deteriorated enormously. To escape from his difficult home situation, Pardoel looked for refuge in

roller skating Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreation, recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on s ...

. He was a very fanatical roller skater and wanted to reach the Dutch roller skating top. Together with Steffen Haars and Huub Smit (nowadays known as the characters of ''

New Kids ''New Kids'' is a Dutch comedy sketch series about a group of anti-social youths from Maaskantje, a village in the southern province of North Brabant. It was created by and . The show was first shown on ''Flabber.nl'', a Dutch blog, as a succe ...

''), he practiced almost every day in an inline skate hall in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

. The hall became a "new home" for Pardoel. He reached the ninth position in a national roller skating competition.

2002–2010: Career beginnings

Pardoel became interested in

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

. In

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, he met rapper

Postman A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

(Remon Stotijn). Postman and his then-wife Anouk helped him to discover the world of hip hop. They made up Pardoel's

Gers. Despite the fact that the name Gers is very similar to his own name Gerwin, "gers" also means "cool" or something like that in Rotterdam

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. Postman highly influenced Pardoel's performing stile. Pardoel improved his rapping skills and began developing himself as a producer. He started working on songs for a future album. At some point, Pardoel showed his old friend Steffen Haars (who had become director of ''

'' in the meantime) some of his raps. Haars was impressed and put him in touch with rappers Sef and Big2. That resulted in the recording of the song " Broodje Bakpao". The hit single, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie ''

New Kids Turbo ''New Kids Turbo'', sometimes promoted as ''New Kids: Turbo!'', is a 2010 Dutch Action comedy, action-comedy film based on the television series ''New Kids''. The film premiered on 6 December 2010 and was released in all Dutch cinemas on 9 Decem ...

'' and reached the first position in the

Mega Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Dutc ...

, resulted in an enormous rise of fame for Pardoel. Due to this success, Pardoel received a recording contract at Dutch label TopNotch. The next success for Pardoel was the single "Ik ga hard". This song, by

The Partysquad The Partysquad is a Dutch DJ production team. It consists of Jerry Leembruggen, Ruben Fernhout and Lorenzo Biemans. Since the early 2000s they have had 12 singles charting on the Dutch Top 40. They produced part of British rapper M.I.A.'s four ...

featuring Gers Pardoel, Adje, Jayh and Reverse, became a popular song among teenagers.

2011–present: ''Deze wereld is van jou'' and ''De toekomst is van ons''

On 14 October 2011, Pardoel released his debut studio album '' Deze wereld is van jou''. After a lot of work (the recordings of the album started already in 2009), the release was finally there. The second single of the album, " Ik neem je mee", became a great success and reached the number-one position in both the

and the

. The album was certified Platinum by the NVPI. The album also included the single " Bagagedrager" among others. Three years later, another studio album was released, called ''De toekomst is van ons''. It didn't match the success of its predecessor, but includes the Platinum-certified single "Louise". Due to his musical success in the Flemish part of Belgium, Pardoel became a coach in the Flemish version of The Voice Kids in the shows 4th and 5th seasons. In the summer of 2021, the Belgian popular newspaper

Het Laatste Nieuws (''HLN''; ; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium. H ...

published stories in which Sélina van Gool (Pardoel's former partner, mother of his children, and also his former manager) accused him of domestic abuse, both physical and psychological in nature. Van Gool also posted on Instagram on the topic, screenshots of her private profile are visible in the newspaper articles. The newspaper added specifically that they were able to check police reports supplied by van Gool which confirmed her allegations. Subsequently Pardoel did not return in the 2022 season of The Voice Kids. It is noteworthy that both VTM which airs The Voice Kids and Het Laatste Nieuws are brands of

Mediahuis Mediahuis (; ) is a European multinational newspaper and magazine publishing, distribution, printing, television, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis ...

. However, also in 2022, Pardoel was welcomed as the presenter of the Flemish version of Come Dance With Me on Play4, a channel of SBS Belgium.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

Featured singles

Other appearances

Awards and nominations

Gers Pardoel has been nominated for several Dutch awards since 2010.

3FM Awards

The

3FM Awards NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster Netherlands Public Broadcasting, NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are Rock music, rock, Alternative rock, alternative, Indie rock, indie and Pop mus ...

is an annual awards ceremony by the 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 ...

. Pardoel has been nominated for five awards in 2012 and won two awards of them. , - , align="center" rowspan="5", 2012 , " Ik neem je mee" , Best Single , , - , '' Deze wereld is van jou'' , Best Album , , - , rowspan="3", Gers Pardoel , Best Hiphop Artist , , - , Best New Artist , , - , 3FM Serious Talent Award , , -

3VOOR12 Awards

Every year, the Dutch

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

platform

3VOOR12 ''3voor12'' () is a multimedia platform for alternative pop music of the Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. ''3voor12'' had 2 digital television channels (a clip-channel and a concert-channel), different radio channels (ranging from punk and al ...

composes a top 100-list of the best songs of the year. Pardoel's song " Ik neem je mee" ended at the 20th position in the list of 2011, while

Gotye Wouter André De Backer (; born 21 May 1980), known professionally as Gotye ( , , ), is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" (featuring Kimbr ...

's song "

Somebody That I Used to Know "Somebody That I Used to Know" is a song written, produced and performed by the Belgian-Australian musician and singer Gotye featuring vocals from the New Zealander singer Kimbra. The song was released in Australia and New Zealand through El ...

" ended at the first position and became Song of the Year 2011. , - , align="center" rowspan="1", 2011 , " Ik neem je mee" , Song of the Year , , -

Edison Music Awards

The Edison Music Awards is an annual Dutch music awards ceremony. The awards are for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is one of the oldest music awards ceremonies in the world, having been presented since 1960. Pardoel has been nominated once for an Edison Music Award. , - , align="center" rowspan="1", 2010 , " Broodje Bakpao" (with The Opposites and Sef) , Best Single , , -

Mega Awards

The Mega Award is awarded every year to the best Dutch artist of the year. It is initiated by

TROS TROS, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting ("Television Radio Broadcasting Foundation"), was a Dutch television and radio organisation part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. This broadcasting association was partic ...

and GfK Dutch Charts. Pardoel received the Mega Award in 2011. , - , align="center" rowspan="1", 2011 , Gers Pardoel , Mega Award 2011 , , -

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

The

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in tel ...

is an annual awards show that airs on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

that honors the year's biggest television, movie and music acts, as voted by Nickelodeon viewers. Pardoel has been nominated for one of the Netherlands Kids Choice Awards 2012. In 2013 he was nominated as well and won the award. , - , align="center "rowspan="1", 2012 , Gers Pardoel , Favourite star: Netherlands/Belgium , , -

State Awards

The State Awards are awards for Dutch

and urban artists. The ceremony is held every year since 2008. Pardoel has been nominated four times in 2010 and 2011. , - , align="center" rowspan="2", 2010 , " Broodje Bakpao" (with The Opposites and Sef) , Best Single , , - , Gers Pardoel , Rookie of the Year , , - , align="center" rowspan="2", 2011 , " Morgen ben ik rijk" , Best Single , , - , Gers Pardoel , Best Artist , , -

TMF Awards

The

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 a ...

are presented annually by Dutch music channel

The Music Factory The Music Factory (TMF) was originally a Dutch brand of television and radio channels, which focused on pop music. It was similar to the American MTV which took over TMF in 2002. TMF operated channels in the Netherlands (TMF Nederland) as well ...

. Pardoel received two awards. , - , align="center" rowspan="2", 2010 , rowspan="2", " Broodje Bakpao" (with The Opposites and Sef) , Best Video , , - , Super Chart Award , , -

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pardoel, Gers 1981 births Living people Dutch male rappers Dutch twins Musicians from Nijmegen