Koen Maria Gaston Wauters (born 17 September 1967) is a Flemish singer, active with the band

Clouseau Inspector Jacques Clouseau (), later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical '' The Pink Panther'' series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in ...

, television presenter, and occasionally actor and race car driver.

Biography

Koen Wauters was born in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

in 1967. Together with his three brothers and two sisters he spent his youth in

Sint-Genesius-Rode Sint-Genesius-Rode (; french: Rhode-Saint-Genèse, ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in Flemish Region, Flanders, one of three regions of Belgium, in the province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the town of Sint ...

. In his youth, Koen Wauters was a keen footballer, but all dreams of a possible pro career ended when he suffered from repeated knee injuries.

Musical career

In 1987, Koen and his brother

Kris The kris, or ''keris'' in the Indonesian language, is an asymmetrical dagger with distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (''pamor''). Of Javanese origin, the kris is famous for its disti ...

joined the local band

. Koen became the frontman and singer of the band. The band and Koen became household names in Flanders in 1989, when the single ''Anne'' became a huge hit. Over the next twenty years, Clouseau became the most popular band in Flanders.

Actor

Koen Wauters has acted in 2 Dutch movies, '' My Blue Heaven'' (1990) and '' Intensive Care'' (1991).

Television presenter

Koen Wauters started his career as a TV presenter in 1989, as one of the first faces for the new Flemish TV station vtm. He has presented shows like ''De Super 50'' (a hitparade show), '' Familieraad'', '' Wedden dat?'', '' 1 tegen 100'' and '' Op zoek naar Maria''. Together with his brother Kris Wauters, also a member of Clouseau, he presented all three seasons of the Flemish version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'', Idool 2003, Idool 2004 and Idool 2007. He also hosted

X Factor (Belgium) ''X Factor'' was the Flemish version of the British show '' The X Factor'', created by Simon Cowell. The new ''X Factor'' series was a successor to '' Idool'' which features contestants & jury members from both seasons. Judges' categories and ...

in 2005. Since 2011, he has been one of the coach in

The Voice van Vlaanderen ''The Voice van Vlaanderen'' (; English-Dutch language, Dutch for ''The Voice of Flanders'') is a Belgian reality singing competition for the Flemish part of Belgium. It is part of the franchise that started in the Netherlands as ''The Voice of ...

, and since 2012, he has been presenting Belgium's Got Talent on vtm.

Race car driver

The main hobby of Koen Wauters is race car driving. He has competed in the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal ...

11 times, and finished 9 times. Together with his brother Kris, he competes in the Belgian GT Championship. His first win in this championship was at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on 10 May 2009. It is a little-known fact that Koen Wauters also participated as a co-driver on the Legend Boucles de Spa, both 2010 and 2011. He was co-driver to Marc Duez, another well-known Belgian racing driver for the FSE-team, together with other legendary drivers such as

Ari Vatanen Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Ra ...

, Robert Droogmans and Jacques Castelein. Wauters made one appearance in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in 2018 at the season finale round at

Circuit Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s ...

. He drove for PK Carsport in the No. 24 entry, substituting for

Anthony Kumpen Anthony Kumpen (born 3 November 1978) is a Belgian professional racing driver and team manager. Kumpen currently works as the team manager for PK Carsport in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. He previously competed full-time in the NASCAR Whelen E ...

who had been suspended earlier in the year by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium for failing a drug test during the 2018

24 Hours of Zolder The 24 Hours of Zolder (24 uur van Zolder in Dutch) is a yearly sports car and touring car endurance race held at Circuit Zolder in Belgium. The race was initially held in 1983, and has run every year except for 1988. In 1989 a GT car won for th ...

Personal life

After earlier relations with

Babette van Veen Babette van Veen (born 30 April 1968) is a Dutch actress and singer. She is known for her role as Linda Dekker in the soap opera ''Goede tijden, slechte tijden''. Career In 1989, she made her film debut in the film ''Blueberry Hill'' by Belg ...

and Dagmar Liekens, Koen Wauters met then MTV-presenter Carolyn Lilipaly in June 1998. They married on 22 December 1998, and divorced in 2001. Koen Wauters married Valerie De Booser on 17 July 2004. They divorced in January 2020. They have two children, daughter Zita and son Nono. Koen Wauters is also an ambassador for

Plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal ...

Belgium.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Euro Series – Elite 1

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wauters, Koen 1967 births Living people Belgian male singers 20th-century Flemish male actors Belgian racing drivers Flemish television presenters Belgian pop singers Belgian game show hosts Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1991 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers NASCAR drivers Flemish male film actors People from Halle, Belgium