Bernthøler was a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

band formed in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, active between 1981 and 1985.

History

Originally just a "musical experiment" named after a line in a Virna Lindt song, the band found surprise success with their single "My Suitor"/"Emotions", recorded in August 1983. Championed in the UK by DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

and appearing in his

Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's 50 (though the exact figure varied above and below this number) best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. It was usually do ...

for 1984, the group signed to the UK label

Blanco y Negro Blanco y Negro Records (Spanish: "White and Black"), a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of él Records. Michel Duval of Les Disques du Crépuscule was also involved ...

. The band released one more record, a long version of "My Suitor" with additional parts by

Wim Mertens Wim Mertens (; born 14 May 1953) is a Flemish Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist. Life and work Mertens was born in Neerpelt, Belgium. He studied social and political science at the University of Leu ...

and Drita Kotaji and, despite occasional gigs, disbanded in 1985. In 1999, radio station

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industria ...

chose "My Suitor" for its Bass-tard remix competition, won by

Buscemi Buscemi (IPA: / buʃˈʃɛmi /; Buxema / buʃˈʃɛma / in Sicilian) is an Italian town of 968 inhabitants of the free municipal consortium of Syracuse in Sicily. Origin of the name The origin of the present name is traced back to ar, قَلْع ...

- who later released his version as a single and on the album ''Our Girl in Havana'' - and the song was nominated by DJ Chantal Pattyn as "one of the classics of Belgian new wave". The song was also covered by

Kahimi Karie , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, songwriter and photographer. Her music is closely associated with the Shibuya-kei aesthetic. Karie sings in English, French and Japanese, among other languages. Karie began her music caree ...

on her 2001 album of the same name. In 1997, Simon Rigot put together a compilation of studio, live and other tracks covering the group's whole career, ''A History of Bernthøler 1981-1985'', issued as a limited release. An official issue was published in 2004 by LTM. A 12" vinyl issue was published in 2015 by Starman Records including the UK EP, the first single, demos from 1984 and the never-before released song "Heartbeat" from 1983. Several other artists have covered "My Suitor", including the following: *1998:

Figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

on ''Moshi Moshi'' compilation *1999:

on ''Our Girl in Havana'' *1999:

Das Pop Das Pop was a Belgian band founded in Ghent by school friends Reinhard Vanbergen, Niek Meul, Lieven Moors and Bent Van Looy. Biography Das Pop was initially called Things to Come, but the band changed its name to Das Pop when Tom Kestens joi ...

on ''Electronica for Lovers'' EP *2001:

on '' My Suitor'' EP *2002: De Flandriens on ''De popklassiekers'' live CD *2011: The Arch on ''Engine in Void'' CD (with Drita Kotaji on vocals)

Post-breakup

Keyboard player Manuel Poutte later became a film director, winning the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

for a short film in 1992. Singer and writer Drita Kotaji is running a solo career and is also involved, amongst other projects, in the INK. duet. Composer, guitarist and keyboard player Simon Rigot played and recorded with many bands (

Les Cactus "Les Cactus" is the third single by French singer-songwriter Jacques Dutronc, released in 1967. It is the last from his self-titled debut album. It reached number 4 in the French singles chart in March 1967, selling over 400,000 copies.Michel Ley ...

, Resurrection), learned the

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form i ...

in the '90s and now plays

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

and

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is concept ...

with Belgian band

the Narcotic Daffodils ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

. Bass player Pol Fourmois is working as an electro-technician at the cinema.

Discography

Albums

*''Merry Lines in the Sky'' CD (2004), LTM - 15 songs including ''My Suitor'' EP *''My Suitor'' Vinyl (2015), Starman Records - 12 songs including ''My Suitor'' EP

Singles and EPs

*"Japanese Garden/The Others" (1982), Putovsky *"My Suitor/Emotions" (1983), Blue Feather *''My Suitor'' EP ("My Suitor"/"Pardeon Up Here"/"Lunacies"/"Emotions") (1984), Blanco y Negro

Compilation appearances

*1992: ''Witlof from Belgium, Volume 4: 80's, Part 2'' - "My Suitor" *1998: ''Was Het Nu 70 of 80? Vol 7'' - "My Suitor", EVA *2005: Various - ''Bel 80 (Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1980-1989)'' - "My Suitor", Universal *2007: ''Les Inrockuptibles présentent: 100 trésors cachés: chansons rares & indispensables'' - "My Suitor", Les Inrockuptibles *2008: ''Expo 58 - De soundtrack'' - "My Suitor", ARS Entertainment *2010: ''Underground Belgian Wave Volume 2'' - "Toys", Walhalla Records *2011: ''Belpop. De eerste 50 jaar CD5'' - "My Suitor", EMI *2013: ''80s Compilation EP'' - "Images", EE Tapes *2014: ''Studio Brussel - Eigen Kweek - 30 jaar Studio Brussel'' - "My Suitor" *2014: ''Insane 80s V01>EV10' - "Images - Exterieur Nuit", EE Tapes *2015: ''100 Op 1 - De Beste Belgen (Radio 1)'' - "My Suitor", Warner *2016: ''Nostalgie - Belpop Classics'' - "My Suitor", Sony Music

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berntholer Belgian pop music groups Belgian new wave musical groups Blanco y Negro Records artists