Kathleen Aerts (born June 18, 1978 in

Geel Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...

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 ...

) is a Belgian singer, actress and host. She was a member of the successful girl group K3.

Early life

Aerts was born in

, Belgium, on 18 June 1978. She has been involved in singing and music since a young age. Between 1992 and 1995 she gained experience as a member of the group ''Wonderful Game'' and became known for her two participations in the Flemish version of the ''

Soundmixshow ''Soundmixshow'' is a Dutch talent show which was a live-vocals version of the '' Playback Show''. It aired from 17 November 1985 to 27 April 2002 and was hosted by Henny Huisman. The format has since been sold to other countries,

'': in 1995 she came third with the song ''Grow A Baby'' by the Belgian pop group and in 1997 she made it to the semifinals with ''Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep'' by Middle of the Road.

Career

From 1998 to 2009 Aerts was a member of the successful girl group K3. Originally thought as the Flemish version of the Spice Girls, the group eventually became famous for their songs for children. Because K3 was originally envisioned as the Flemish version of the Spice Girls, the group was made up of all females in their twenties: Aerts,

Karen Damen Karen Franciska Maria Louisa Damen (; born 28 October 1974) is a Belgian singer, actress, host and one of the first members of girl group K3. She acted in a few movies and hosted a few programs. Discography :Studio albums (as a member of K3 ...

, and

Kristel Verbeke Kristel Philemon Charlotte Verbeke (born 10 December 1975 in Hamme, Belgium, Hamme) is a Flemish people, Flemish singer, actress and host. She is known for being a member of the first K3 (band), K3 group, from 1998 until 2015. In 2015, she becam ...

. K3 achieved success after the release of "Heyah Mama", and in 2002 their manager sold the band to

Studio 100 Studio 100 N.V. is a Belgian children's entertainment production & distribution company that specialized in high quality kids & family entertainment content and operated their in-house animation studios such as their Australian animation compa ...

. The production company made the group an even bigger success, with merchandising, film, TV series and books also being released. In 2009 Aerts decided to stop being a member of K3 and to start her solo career. Her first song, titled "Zumba Yade", was made in cooperation with

Unicef UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. The single reached the top 3 of the

Dutch Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

in July 2009 and the top 20 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 ...

in Flanders. She sold more than 10,000 CDs in

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 ...

. In November 2009, Aerts released her debut solo album ''Kathleen in symfonie''. The album contained twelve songs, including a duet with Danny de Munk. Aerts ensured that part of the proceedings from the album went to Unicef. This decision ensued from her experience in South Africa. In 2010 she became a member of the . The same year she also decided to go back to children's music, releasing a song titled "Boerderij blues" (en. Farm blues). She released three other songs for children. In 2007 a

wax figure A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excel ...

of Kathleen Aerts was unveiled in the

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of ...

in Amsterdam together with those of the other two original K3 members. In 2016, Aerts released "Die roos", an adaptation of Ann Christy's hit "De roos", her first single in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. A year later she recorded the single "Afrika", also in Afrikaans, which was also part of the soundtrack of the film '' F.C. De Kampioenen 3: Forever'' (2007). In September 2017, she published her third book: ''Lilly en Max in de wereld van oma''. In 2020, Aerts participated as Mermaid in the television show ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns 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 English. ''The ...

'', in which judges must guess the identity of the masked participant. Here she was reunited after a long time with

, who sat on the jury of the program and correctly guessed the masked mermaid was Aerts.

Personal life

Kathleen Aerts married Steven van Hoof, a police officer, in 2010. Their first child, a boy, was born on 26 January 2011. Their second boy was born in December 2013. In 2015, she moved with her husband, sons and mother to

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

, South Africa.

Books

* 2009: ''Mijn leven als K1'' (Author: Kathleen Aerts, , published by Kwagga in Dutch) * 2015: ''Voor altijd mijn mama. Leven met jongdementie'' (Author: Kathleen Aerts, , published by Lannoo in Dutch) * 2017: ''Lilly en Max in de wereld van Oma'' (Author: Kathleen Aerts, , published by Lannoo in Dutch)

Musicals

* 1998: Sneeuwwitje (as Sneeuwwitje, en. "

Snow White "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

") * 2002: Doornroosje (as one of the good "

fairies A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

", en.

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

) * 2003: De drie biggetjes (as Knorri, one of the "

Three little pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's ho ...

") * 2005: De kleine zeemeermin (as The "

Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

") * 2007: De drie biggetjes (as Knorri, one of the "

Films

Discography

Singles

Albums

References

Sources

* ''Chart Stats: K3'', Ultratop (in Dutch) * ''Chart Stats: K3'', Dutch Charts (in Dutch)
''Kathleen Aerts gelukkiger dan ooit nu ze K3 heeft verlaten'', Het Nieuwsblad
(in Dutch)
''Ex-K3 Kathleen trouwt'', Gazet van Antwerpen
(in Dutch)

(in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aerts, Kathleen Living people 1978 births Belgian pop singers Belgian women pop singers Belgian children's musicians Belgian film actresses K3 (band) members 21st-century Belgian singers People from Geel Dutch-language singers of Belgium Afrikaans-language singers of Belgium