Will Hoebee (29 June 1947 – 10 June 2012) was a Dutch

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

. In late 1981, he married

José Hoebee Josina van de Wijdeven (born 29 March 1954), known as José Hoebee, is a Dutch pop singer. She was a member of Luv', a famous Dutch girl group in the late 1970s and early 1980s that scored hits in more than 15 countries. In late 1981, she we ...

(singer of the girl group

Luv' Luv' were a Dutch girl group that scored a string of hit records in Continental Europe (Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Finland) as well as Israel, South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada ...

). Benny Neyman,

Saskia & Serge Saskia & Serge are a Dutch vocal duo consisting of singer Trudy van den Berg (born 23 April 1947, Grootebroek) and singer-guitarist Ruud Schaap (born 22 March 1946, Den Helder). They are known for their participation in the 1971 Eurovision S ...

Gheorghe Zamfir Gheorghe Zamfir (; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian nai (pan flute) musician. Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of normally 20-pipe nai, with 22, 25, 28 or even 30 pipes, to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight ov ...

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...

and

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, Germ ...

were among the acts he produced.

Debut

Hoebee was born in Hilversum,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. After graduating from High School, he found a job at the mailing service of the AVRO (a Dutch public broadcasting organisation) where he met many celebrities. He later worked at NRU (now: NOS) record library. At this time, he was approached by Herman Stok and Hans Kemna to produce various radio shows for public broadcaster NOS. In 1970, he entered the

radio promotion Radio promotion is the division of a record company which is charged with placing songs on the radio. They maintain relationships with program directors at radio stations and attempt to persuade them to play singles to promote the sale of record ...

division of

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomera ...

. Two years later, he was hired by

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 ...

where he stayed until the early 1980s.

A successful record producer

In the mid 1970s, Hoebee started his collaboration with producer/songwriter

Peter Koelewijn Peter Koelewijn (born 29 December 1940 in Eindhoven) is a founding father of Dutch-language rock and roll. Koelewijn is also a successful producer and songwriter for other Dutch artists. His most famous song is "Kom van dat dak af". Biography Pe ...

. They co-wrote the Dutch Top 5 hit single "Patrick Mon Chéri" performed by Kiki & Pearly in 1975. French pop singer

Sheila Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, mean ...

covered that year this song that went gold in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and sold 800.000 copies. Soon after, Hoebee produced the Dutch version of Austin Roberts signature song "Rocky" that hit the number one spot in the Netherlands and was performed by Don Mercedes. In 1977, he founded with Koelewijn the "Born Free" label (a

Phonogram Phonogram may refer to: * A sound recording – see Geneva Phonograms Convention * ''Phonogram'' (comics), a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie * Phonogram (linguistics), a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phone ...

subsidiary). Saskia & Serge and Rob de Nijs were part of the roster of this short-lived record company. In 1979, Will met

singer José Andreoli. They got married in late 1981 and celebrated their wedding reception in David Soul's villa in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Their son Tim was born on 14 October 1985. Will supervised some of his wife's recordings (including the Top 20 hit "So Long, Marianne" (in duet with TV host Ron Brandsteder in 1984) and the album "Herinnering" with Bonnie Saint Claire with Dutch cover versions of

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...

songs in 1985). Then he was involved in the production of the Dutch version of the children's musical

Abbacadabra ''ABBAcadabra'' is a French children's musical based on songs from the pop group ABBA. It was originally produced for French television in 1983 by Alain and Daniel Boublil, but which was later also transferred to an English stage version and tw ...

. Moreover, he produced famous Dutch artists, like

André van Duin André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variat ...

, Bonnie St. Claire or Benny Neyman (with whom he scored the #1 hit "Waarom fluister ik je naam nog" in the Netherlands) but also international performers (such as

Vicky Leandros Vasiliki Papathanasiou ( el, Βασιλική Παπαθανασίου; born 23 August 1949), generally known as Vicky Leandros ( el, Βίκυ Λέανδρος, links=no), is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, music ...

, Nana Mouskouri and David Soul.). During the 1980s, Hoebee was an A&R manager at the CNR label and later at Koch records.

Later career

He slowed down his career in the music business in the 1990s. In 2004, he took part in a music internet portal "muziekmaken.nl" (nowadays defunct) in which José wrote a weekly column. He also produced a TV

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

(''Tijd Voor Talent'') hosted by his wife and aired on a Dutch local channel "VSM TV". In 2009, he recorded with

Piet Souer Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Souer (born 29 March 1948, Eindhoven) is a Dutch record producer, songwriter and arranger. His collaboration with acts (such as Luv', Mouth & MacNeal, Liesbeth List, Ramses Shaffy, American Gypsy, and Champagne) made him g ...

a new rendering of a

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

classic hit (

Be My Baby "Be My Baby" is a song by American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in ...

) performed by former

BZN BZN (''Band Zonder Naam''; Dutch for "Band Without Name") was a Dutch pop group that had a string of hits from 1966 to 2007 on. BZN recorded mostly in English and French, but also had success with material in Dutch and German. History BZN star ...

member

Anny Schilder Anny Schilder (14.02.1959) is a Dutch pop music, pop singer, and was the lead singer of BZN from 1976 to 1984.Louis Peter Grijp, Ignace Bossuyt Een muziekgeschiedenis der Nederlanden - 2001 - Page 742 Biography BZN-Singer Jack Veerman, the dru ...

and José Hoebee. He died in a hospital in Hasselt on 10 June 2012 of cancer.Echtgenoot José Hoebee overleden
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References

Bibliography

*"500 Nr.1 Hits uit de Top 40", book by Johan van Slooten, Gottmer Becht Publishing, 1997 *"Top 40 Hitdossier 1956-2005 (9e editie)", book by Johan van Slooten, Gottmer Bech Publishing, 2006 *"50 jaar nummer-1-hits 1956-2006", book by Johan van Slooten, Gottmer Uitgevers Groep, 2006 *"Albumdossier 1969-2002", book by Johan van Slooten, Becht's Uitgevers, 2002

External links

(in Dutch) * ttp://dutchcharts.nl/showperson.asp?name=Will+Hoebee Hoebee chart performances in the Netherlands on the DutchCharts.nl portal* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoebee, Will 1947 births 2012 deaths Dutch music managers Dutch record producers Dutch songwriters People from Hilversum