Louis Neefs (born Ludwig Adèle Maria Jozef Neefs, 8 August 1937 – 25 December 1980) was a Belgian singer and presenter, known for his participation in 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 ...

s of 1967 and 1969.

Early career

Neefs was training for a career in

technical drawing Technical drawing, drafting or drawing, is the act and discipline of composing drawings that visually communicate how something functions or is constructed. Technical drawing is essential for communicating ideas in industry and engineering. ...

at college in

Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...

when he joined the college choir and started learning to play guitar. At first his musical activities were purely recreational, but by the late 1950s he had become a member of a group called Sun Spot. Via performances and talent competitions, Neefs' distinctive singing voice came to the notice of famous musical talent scout Jacques Kluger, who had also discovered, among others,

Bobbejaan Schoepen Bobbejaan Schoepen (a pseudonym of Modest Schoepen; 16 May 1925 – 17 May 2010) was a Flemish pioneer in Belgian pop music, vaudeville, and European country music. Schoepen was a versatile entertainer, entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, guit ...

. Kluger and Schoepen brought Neefs to the attention of record companies, and he was signed to a contract in 1958, releasing his first album in 1960. He achieved several top 20 singles in the

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

chart, and a modicum of success in 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 ...

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1967, Neefs was chosen, with the song " Ik heb zorgen" ("I Have Worries"), as the Belgian representative in the 12th

, which took place on 8 April in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. "Ik heb zorgen" finished in seventh place of 17 entrants. In 1969, Neefs was again selected to represent Belgium, with the song " Jennifer Jennings" in the 14th

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...

, held in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

on 29 March. This resulted in another seventh-place finish, of 16 entrants.

Later career

Neefs continued to enjoy recording success, with the biggest hit of his career, "Margrietje", reaching No. 4 in 1972. He was also the "

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

" of Thomas O'Malley in the Dutch-language version of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''

The Aristocats ''The Aristocats'' is a 1970 American Animated film, animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Ken Anderson (animator), Ken Ander ...

''. In tandem with his musical career, Neefs was a presenter of television and radio shows for Flemish broadcaster VRT. He also became politically active, standing as a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

in Mechelen.

Death

Neefs was killed in a

road accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

in Lier on 25 December 1980, aged 43. His wife Liliane also died in the accident. They had two sons, and ; the latter is now also a well-known singer in Belgium. On 5 August 2007, a bust of Neefs was unveiled in his hometown of Gierle to honour what would have been his 70th birthday."Gierle onthult zondag borstbeeld van zanger Louis Neefs"
''Gazet van Antwerpen'' (in Dutch) Asteroid 38018 Louisneefs, discovered by

Eric Elst Eric Walter Elst (30 November 1936 – 2 January 2022) was a Belgian astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle and a prolific discoverer of asteroids. The Minor Planet Center ranks him among the top 10 discoverers of minor planets wi ...

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...

in 1998, was named in his memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neefs, Louis 1937 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Belgian male singers 20th-century Belgian singers Belgian pop singers Musicians from Antwerp Province Road incident deaths in Belgium Dutch-language singers of Belgium Eurovision Song Contest entrants