Jan Smit (born 31 December 1985) is a Dutch singer, television host, and actor. Smit mostly sings songs in the Dutch language, in a genre known as ''Volendam music''. In addition to his solo career, in 2015 Smit joined the schlager trio KLUBBB3, and in 2017 The Toppers. As a TV presenter, he has worked on programs like the ''Beste Zangers'' (Best Singers in the Netherlands) and ''Sterren Muziekfeest op het Plein'' (Music Festival on the square.) Since 1999, Smit has been serving as an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages, and is a member of the board for the football club

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. Nicknamed "de Palingboeren", the club was founded ...

Career

1996–2004: International success as Jantje Smit

Jantje Smit began his music career in Volendam where he sang in a boys' choir called ''De Zangertjes van Volendam''. Smit was discovered at the age of ten, when the famous Dutch band

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 ...

asked him to participate in a duet with one of their lead singers,

Carola Smit Carola Sier-Smit (born 1 September 1963) is a Dutch singer and was a member of Dutch pop band BZN from 1984 until 2007 when the band disbanded. Biography Musical career Smit was born Volendam, and began her musical career in 1980 (at age 17), w ...

. They recorded the song ''Mama'' which was very successful. Because of this success, he was asked to record a solo song, which was produced by three members of

, titled ''Ik Zing Dit Lied Voor Jou Alleen'' (I sing this song just for you). The song entered the Dutch charts at number one, something that had never before happened in the history of the Dutch Charts (''Nederlandse Top 40''). In the following two years, Jantje Smit had five more hits including ''Pappie, Waar Blijf Je Nou'' (Daddy, where are you now). All songs were written by

members

Jan Keizer (singer) Jan Keizer (born 3 April 1949 in Volendam) is a Dutch singer and composer, best known as one of the singers of the popband BZN. Career Keizer began his career in music as a drummer with the band Empty Hearts, which he renamed the Q-tips two yea ...

, Jack Veerman and Jan Tuijp. Smit was also able to achieve success outside of the Netherlands, in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France. For a while Smit focused on and performed more often in Germany, where working legislation for minors was less strict, therefore allowing him to perform more. In the Netherlands minors can only perform a couple of times a year. While performing in Germany, he became one of the best-selling Dutch acts abroad. He released ten records sung in German. In 2001 Smit,

and their producers received the ''Exportprijs'' for being the bestselling Dutch artists abroad.

2005: Just Jan Smit

In 2005 Smit changed his stage name from Jantje Smit to Jan Smit. Starting on 25 March 2005, he appeared in his own reality show ''Gewoon Jan Smit'' (Just Jan Smit), which was a reality TV show and followed his everyday life. Later that year, the show won the ''Gouden Televizier-Ring''

References

External links

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Jan Smit
official website
Jan Smit
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Jan (singer) 1985 births Living people Dutch pop singers Dutch television presenters People from Volendam Schlager musicians 21st-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch singers De Toppers members Nationaal Songfestival presenters