Hilde Rens (3 March 1972 – 25 June 2009), better known by her stage name Yasmine, was a Belgian singer, presenter and television personality.

Career

Music

Rens became known as a singer during the 1980s. At the age of 17, Yasmine made her television debut in 1989 as a contestant on a Flemish television talent show, performing a rendition of "

Don't Cry for Me Argentina "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album '' Evita'', later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they wer ...

" as

Julie Covington Julie Covington (born 11 September 1946) is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of " Don't Cry for Me Argentina", which she sang on the 1976 concept album '' Evita''. Early life Julie Covington was born ...

. Two years later, she earned a record deal, releasing her first single, "Wie Denk Jij Wel Dat Je Bent" and her first album, ''Mooi zo'' in the same year. She went on to record another five mainstream pop albums before releasing ''Vandaag (Het morgen van gisteren)'' in 2004, a critically lauded CD of

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

songs translated into Dutch. Her last album, ''Licht Ontvlambaar'', was released in 2006.

Broadcasting

Up until her death, Yasmine was a regular on the VRT's main television station,

één VRT 1 is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, VRT Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadcast in between some programm ...

, where she was an in-vision

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

and a presenter for various entertainment shows including ''De Rode Loper'', ''Memento'' and ''Zo is er maar één''. Prior to joining the VRT, she presented music programmes and was part of the promotion team for commercial station VTM during the 1990s and was one of the launch VJs for

TMF Flanders TMF was a Belgian pay television channel whose programming was centred towards pop music videoclips. TMF was operated by Viacom International Media Networks Paramount International Networks (PIN) is the international division of the Paramoun ...

. She was also a presenter for two VRT radio stations -

Studio Brussel Studio Brussel is a Dutch-speaking radio station in Belgium, owned by the VRT. The music played is considered more alternative than the other big radio stations, and is aimed mainly at a youth audience. The channel is an initiative of the Fle ...

and the now-defunct pop station Donna.

Personal life and death

Rens came out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

in 1996, becoming an established

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

icon for Flemish and Dutch youth. Yasmine further positioned herself as a leading LGBT icon by marrying television personality Marianne Dupon (winner of the reality TV show '' De Mol'') in 2003, following a 2-year relationship. On 9 March 2007, Dupon gave birth to a daughter named Ella-Louise. The couple divorced in April 2009. On 25 June 2009, Yasmine's body was found near her sister's home in Kontich where she had

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

herself from a tree - her suicide reportedly followed a severe depression allegedly inflicted by her split with Dupon.

Discography

Albums

*1991: ''Mooi Zo'' *1993: ''Als Jij Dat Wil'' *1995: ''Portfolio'' *1997: ''Prêt-a-Porter'' *1999: ''Blauw'' *2001: ''Yasmine'' *2004: ''Vandaag, Het Morgen Van Gisteren'' *2006: ''Licht Ontvlambaar''

References

:''Based on a translation from

French Wikipedia The French Wikipedia () is the French-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. This edition was started on 23 March 2001, two months after the official creation of Wikipedia. It has :fr:Special:Statistics, encyclopedia artic ...

External links

The Belgian Pop and Rock Archives - Yasmine profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasmine (Singer) 1972 births 2009 suicides 2009 deaths 20th-century Belgian women singers 21st-century Belgian women singers Belgian women radio presenters Belgian women television presenters Belgian video jockeys Dutch-language singers of Belgium Flemish television presenters Belgian lesbian musicians Belgian LGBTQ singers Belgian LGBTQ broadcasters Lesbian singers Musicians from Antwerp Radio and television announcers Suicides by hanging in Belgium Mass media people from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian LGBTQ people 21st-century Belgian LGBTQ people