HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Clouseau is a Flemish
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
group, having success in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
since being established in the late 1980s. Apart from a brush with English material in the early 1990s they perform in Dutch. Their biggest hits are "Daar gaat ze" ("There she goes", a #1 hit in the Netherlands in 1990, and rerecorded in English as "Close Encounters") and "Passie" ("Passion", a #1 hit in the Netherlands in 1995).


History


1987–1991

Clouseau was set up by
Bob Savenberg Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob t ...
, who named the band after Inspector Clouseau, a character he enjoyed imitating and after whom he had named his
radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
. Initially, Clouseau only performed at local venues. Singer Koen Wauters soon left the group to sing for another local band, but in 1987 he was persuaded to return. The same year they were discovered at the Marktrock festival in
Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
, Belgium. Their first single "Brandweer" ("Firemen", also a pun that can be interpreted as "Burning again") sold 427 copies. Their
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
debut followed in November of that year. In 1989 Clouseau participated in the Belgian tryouts for the
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
with the song "Anne". Clouseau came in second, but "Anne" became an enormous hit in Belgium and a (minor) hit in the Netherlands. The popularity of Clouseau in Belgium skyrocketed, and that year Clouseau produced its first album, "Hoezo?" ("Whaddayamean?"). In 1990 "Daar gaat ze" topped the singles charts in both Belgium and the Netherlands; several more hits followed. On 30 September, Tjen Berghmans left the group after a dispute. In October 1990, Clouseau released their second album, ''Of zo...'' (''Or so...''). In March 1991, Karel Theys departed, leaving Clouseau as a three-piece. In May 1991, Clouseau represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991, finishing 16th out of 22 with the song " Geef het op", but their participation resulted in a European breakthrough.


1991–1999

Afterwards it was announced that Koen Wauters was called up for the army; because of his Clouseau-commitments he only had to serve four weeks and didn't need to shave his head. Fall 1991, Clouseau released their first
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
album; ''Close Encounters'' (of which the title track is a translation of "Daar gaat ze") was a huge success in Germany. The Dutch fans were less keen on the idea of Koen Wauters singing in another language and rather bought the live-album that was released during this period. In 1992 Clouseau released a
Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...
album, ''Doorgaan'' (''Keep on going''). At the same time, they supported Swedish group
Roxette Roxette is a Swedish pop rock duo originally consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, both of whom were already established musicians in Sweden prior to the band's formation. Fredriksson had released a number of successful solo albums, ...
on their European tour performing the ''Close Encounters''-material. The second English-language album, 1993's ''In every small town'' was recorded in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. However, the album failed critically, receiving little attention outside the
Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...
countries. Since then, Clouseau has refrained from producing English-language music (except for occasional singles, e.g. " Weather With You" (Crowded House cover) in 2000). In 1995 they released the ''Oker'' album, which featured the single "Passie". In 1996, founder Bob Savenberg left the group. At the time he hosted the television format of the
Ultratop 50 Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiz ...
. Bob Savenberg now works with upcoming artists as a manager. In September 1996 Clouseau released the ''Adrenaline'' album, which was promoted with a large tour. On 22 December 1998 singer Koen Wauters married the Dutch television journalist and one-time MTV-presenter Carolyn Lilipaly (they divorced in 2002). 1999 saw the release of ''In Stereo''. Clouseau were heading for a new direction. A live album was released in 2000, and Clouseau were touring Belgium and the Netherlands.


2000–2009

In 2001, Clouseau released the disco oriented CD ''En Dans'' (''And Dance''); the artwork was designed by Marcel Vanthilt and the title track became a huge hit. Whilst the fans were waiting for new material, the two remaining bandmembers presented the 2003 and 2004 editions of ''Idool'' (the Belgian version of ''Idols'') on VTM. In October 2004 they released the ''Vanbinnen'' (''Inside'') album. Since 2002 Clouseau are playing multiple Christmas shows at the Sportpaleis Antwerp. These concerts are a huge success with tickets selling out well in advance and each year's series surpassing the previous. In 2005, 13 shows attracted over 200,000 visitors in total. Due to Koen's
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...
-participation they couldn't add any further dates. In 2006 Clouseau performed in Antwerp at the 0110 concerts for tolerance, organised by Tom Barman, singer/guitarist with dEUS. At that moment seven shows were added for that year's Christmas stint (Clouseau Speciale Editie). The band released their latest CD ''Vonken & Vuur'' (''Sparks & Flames'') in March 2007 with "De Tegenpartij" ("The Opposition Party") being the first single. The Dutch release followed a month later. Their 20th anniversary was celebrated with the tribute album ''Braveau Clouseau''. On 5 December 2008 Clouseau played the first of their Crescendo Christmas-shows. In 2009 they expressed their tiredness of Belgian communal tensions in a pro-Belgium song, a novelty in Flemish commercial popular culture. They toured across railway-stations and festivals which included their first show in the Netherlands in nine years.


2010–present

In 2017 a documentary was aired in honour of their 30th anniversary. In 2023, they gave a surprise performance at
Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the v ...
. They posed as a Finnish
power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...
duo named Tarkastaja. After the first song, the brothers took off their masks and announced themselves to the audience. During a ‘Back to the 80s, 90s & Nillies’ event that year, they performed a record of 125 times in the
Sportpaleis The Antwerps Sportpaleis () (to be renamed to AFAS Dome effective 1 September, 2025), also called Sportpaleis Antwerpen, Sportpaleis Merksem or simply the Sportpaleis, is an arena in Antwerp, Belgium. It is a multipurpose hall used for organizin ...
in Antwerp, each time in front of an average of 15,000 spectators To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the band announced ten Sportpaleis-concerts in December 2024 and January 2025.


Honours and awards

* Radio 2 Summer Hit: ** Overall hit: 1989 (''Anne'') ** Best Dutch-language song: 1989 (''Anne''), 2002 (''En dans''), 2011 (''Gek op jou''), 2014 (''Vliegtuig'') ** Oeuvre prize: 2004 ** Best videoclip: 2007 (''Vonken & vuur''), 2009 (''Wat een leven'') ** Best performance: 2008 (''Crescendo concerts'') * ZAMU Music Awards ** Best Dutch-language artist: 1995 ** Most popular band: 2001 ** Best song: 2002 (''En Dans'') ** Best live-act: 2004 * TMF Awards ** Best pop: 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009 ** Beste live-act: 2003, 2004 ** Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007 * Radio 2 Hall of Fame ** 2005 (''Anne''), 2014 (''Daar gaat ze'') *
Music Industry Awards The MIA's, in full Music Industry Awards, are Flemish music prizes that are awarded by the VRT in collaboration with Music Centre Flanders. The prizes replace the ZAMU Awards, last awarded in 2006. The abbreviation MIA is a wink to ''Mia'', ...
** Best band: 2007, 2008, 2019 ** Best live act: 2008 ** Best Dutch-language artist: 2013 * QMusic Thx to You Awards 2021: Biggest Flemish band from 20 years of Q Clouseau-albums are regularly certified gold and platinum. One of their most successful albums is the best-of compilation ''Clouseau 20'' from 2007, which has already achieved five-times platinum status. Flemish tribute bands include ''Cluzo'' and ''Kloezo.''


Members

* Tjen Berghmans (up to September 1990) * Karel Theys (up to March 1991) *
Bob Savenberg Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob t ...
(up to 1996) * Kris Wauters * Koen Wauters


Band

* Jos Michiels (Percussion) * David Thomaere (Keyboards) *
Herman Cambré Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minneso ...
(Drums) * Eric Melaerts (Guitar) *
Tom Lodewyckx Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...
(Guitar) * Vincent Pierens (Bass Guitar)


Discography

Source:


Albums

* '' Hoezo?'' (1989) * '' Of zo...'' (1990) * ''
Close Encounters In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO) at relatively close range, where the possibility of mis-identification is presumably greatly reduced. This terminology and the system of cla ...
'' (1991) * '' Live '91'' (1991) * '' Doorgaan'' (1993) * '' In Every Small Town'' (1993) * '' Het Beste van'' (1993) * ''
Oker The Oker () is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller (Germany), Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction. Origin and meanin ...
'' (1995) * ''
Adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands a ...
'' (1996) * '' 87- 97'' (1997) * '' In Stereo'' (1999) * ''
Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
'' (2000) * '' Ballades'' (2001) * '' En Dans'' (2001) * '' Live in het Sportpaleis'' DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2003) * '' Vanbinnen'' (2004) * '' Clouseau in 't lang DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2006) * '' Vonken en Vuur'' (2007) * ''
Zij Aan Zij A ' () is an astronomy in medieval Islam, Islamic astronomical book that tabulates ephemeris, parameters used for astronomy, astronomical calculations of the apparent place, positions of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Etymology The name '' ...
'' (2009) * ''Clouseau'' (2013) * ''Clouseau Danst'' (2016) * ''Tweesprong'' (2019) * ''Jonge wolven'' (2022)


Singles


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clouseau Belgian pop music groups Dutch-language musical groups from Belgium Musical groups established in 1984 Eurovision Song Contest entrants