Tonny Eyk

Tonny Eyk, pseudonym of Teun Eikelboom, (The Hague, 4 July 1940) is a Dutch composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, producer, entertainer, columnist and writer. Eyk is also known for his appearances as a jury member in various television shows including , Soundmixshow and . His first book, Met Tonny Eyk naar de Provence (Go with Tonny Eyk to Provence), combines his love of the Tour de France and France, French gastronomy. Eyk is also an ambassador of the Dutch company . Eyk graduated by majoring in trombone at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Biography

Tonny Eyk has made countless television appearances and has been involved with Dutch Television experienced from its very beginning. This includes Experimental TV in 1950, the opening of the second Dutch TV Net (1964), The first Color TV Broadcast (1967 from the Firato, the opening of the third Dutch TV NPO 3, Netherlands 3 (for which he wrote all the music) and the first Dutch advertising broadcast in 1963 (Mecom TV). Eyk has worked with world stars such as Dame Edna Everidge, Tommy Cooper, Toots Thielemans, Ringo Starr, The Three Degrees, Oleta Adams and Danny Kaye. He partnered his twin sister Jeanette, with whom he since 1947 an accordion duo had, in the European 1958 act for the legendary Rock and Roll King, "Bill Haley (musician), Bill Haley and his Comets" (the world's first pop concert was banned in the Netherlands).

With Rudi Carrell, Eyk made a tour for the Dutch troops In 1962 in New Guinea, and later in 1980 he was the musical director for Rudi's TV shows in Germany, including “Die Sieben Verflixte” and “Rudi's Urlaub Show. In 1980, Tonny Eyk performed with his combo at the inauguration of Beatrix of the Netherlands, Beatrix as queen of The Netherlands and again in 2005, at her 25-year jubilee reign at the Knight's Hall (Ridderzaal) of Dutch States General States General of the Netherlands of the Netherlands parliament (Staten-Generaal van het Koninkrik der Nederlanden) in the Binnenhof in The Hague.
Tonny Eyk has made hundreds of compositions both in the light and in the classical music genres. He wrote the theme music for shows including TopPop, Top Pop, , , the repertoire for Van Kooten en De Bie (“Ballen in mijn buik”-Balls in my stomach,”De Tegenpartij” and many others.), the cinematic film 'Number 14' (the Johan Cruijff story), hits for “Kinderen voor Kinderen” (Children for Children) - (“Op een onbewoond Eiland”-On a desert island and “Ik heb zo waanzinnig gedroomd” - I had such a crazy dream), and for many television series (including the De Stille Kracht (TV series), ''De stille kracht'', the and . Also he composed symphonic works, such as the Suite (for Jaap van Zweden) and Capriccio for symphony orchestra and Combo commissioned by the Holland Festival '79. For decades the "Anthem Ceremony Protoculaire UCI" played during all cycling world championships was a composition by Tonny Eyk.

The Two Jeateux

The musical career of Tonny Eyk started in 1947. Together with his twin sister Jeanette (actually Sjaantje Eikelenboom) when aged seven years they formed an accordion duo called the . This name was a combination of their own two names. The duo soon became a well-known act on the post-war variety circuit and they performed with such great artists as Lou Bandy, Albert de Booy, Heintje Davids, Willy Vervoort, , Eddy Christiani, De Spelbrekers and . In 1950 they made their radio debut in the Omroepvereniging VARA, VARA 'Amateurs zetten hun beste beentje voor’ (Amateurs put their best foot forward) program and they followed this with a performance for the then Dutch experimental television project in Eindhoven. They first worked abroad in 1952 and played in a movie theatre in Liège performing between the news and the featured film. In 1954, Jeanette and Eyk made a tour of Italy with their accordion teacher .

At the age of 14, exactly on 1 July 1955, the duo became professional. That year, on 12 November, they were seen for the first time on television in the NCRV program 'Blokband’ and as a result of this, they were invited to perform on the highly popular radio show of : "Alle hens aan dek met Mastklimmen” (All hands on deck with Mast Climbing). They appeared regularly with their accordion act in many variety shows and also for Dutch soldiers (including La Courtine) and went on tour for Belgian soldiers stationed in Germany. Eyk also accompanied as pianist various jugglers, comedians, singers, magicians and clowns. In 1957, the duo received a contract with the famous Heck's Lunchroom on Amsterdam's Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square) and in 1959 their first record was released by Delahaye Records.

In addition to performances with Eyk performed a lot of solo work. He did gigs in nightclubs and worked as a pianist in the orchestra of the then-popular singer . From 1958 to 1965 he studied trombone at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Anner Bylsma sr. and played in the orchestra class conducted by with whom he privately studied conducting. In 1960 in Italy, Eyk scored a hit with the song “Addio Piccolina” (sung by ). From 1963 Tonny Eyk conducted various radio ensembles including Omroepvereniging VARA, VARA Musette Orchestra and Koffiekamer Sounds (NCRV). He formed the Tonny Eyk-Qwartet with Eddy Christiani as vocalist and guitarist.

Solo career

In 1964, Tonny Eyk married Elizabeth Vasbinder, a former dancer of the Dutch and Dutch National Ballet. Eyk was also the supervisor for the popular duo Willy Alberti and Willeke Alberti. For the KRO radio program from Alex Wayenburg, he debuted André van Duin and as vocalists..

In the late sixties Tonny Eyk began some big foreign tours with various groups of Dutch artists (, Willy Alberti and Willeke Alberti, Johnny Jordaan, Cees de Lange, world champion magician Fred Kaps, Toby Rix with his toeteriks, singers Conny Vandenbos and and many others). He gave concerts for Dutch emigrants in Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Curacao, Suriname and in South Africa. At this time Eyk was increasingly in demand for TV programs and he became the musical director of some legendary programs, including ‘Voor de Vuist Weg’ and ‘Muziekmozaïek’ (with Willem Duys), Mies Bouwman, , ‘Nieuwe Oogst’ (New Harvest), the Ronnie Tober Shows, ‘’, ‘de KRO komt langs’, ‘’, the ‘1-2-3-show', the Carré Shows, ‘De show van de Maand’, ‘Werk in Uitvoering’ (with Willem Nijholt). He was also responsible for many children's series such as ‘Bibelebons’, ‘, ‘’, ‘’, ‘’, ‘Thomas en Senior’, ‘Mijn Idee’ and many others. He also composed the music for among others the TV series ‘Kant aan mijn Broek’, ‘Vanoude mensen de dingen die voorbij gaan’, ‘de Verossing’ and for : ‘Vamos a Ver’. His work for television the music was largely arranged by .

Eyk appeared during the FIFA World Cup in 1974 for the Dutch national team in Germany where coach Rinus Michels sang ‘Dreamland’ for his players

At the request of Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven, Tonny Eyk became part of the grand piano group ‘Gevleugelds Vrienden’. He also accompanied Princess Juliana singing two cabaret songs on a single.

Eyk conducted the "Gala of the Century' (100 years Royal Theatre Carré) and made record and CD recordings with Big Band, , , , Alex Hare, The Blue Diamonds (Dutch band), The Blue Diamonds, AVRO's children's choir, the Wamas and many more. Eyk was very popular with the KRO television program ‘’, He was also chairman of the jury of the ‘’. With lyricist Herman Pieter de Boer, Eyk wrote hits for ‘Kinderen voor Kinderen’ (Children for Children). Also for the cinematic film Soul Mate (with André van Duin), he wrote the music and Eyk accompanied Hans Teeuwen in his film ‘Gewoon Hans’. For the AVRO television program ‘’, Eyk was for many years a participant and referee.
From 1990, Tonny Eyk made many performances abroad. At the request of (from Princess Household Appliances), he worked with the famous Master Chef Cas Spijkers fifteen times in Hong Kong. They travelled the world over (Curacao, Chicago, China, Japan, Malaysia) and made various television recordings including ‘The Big Buffet Show’ in Singapore. In Shanghai Eyk in 2005 made videos for his children's hits (‘Op een onbewoond eiland’-On a desert island and Ik heb zo waanzinnig gedroomd- I had such a crazy dream’. These numbers were even sung in Chinese by the Shanghai TV children's choir. In 2011, his composition ‘Capriccio' for Strings was performed by The Fancy Fiddlers and in St. Petersburg by the St.Petersburg Chamber Orchestra 'Carpe Diem'.

Collector

Eyk is a big cycling fan and is internationally known as a collector of cycling jerseys (only champion and ranking jerseys). This large collection was in 2010 exhibited by the ‘Lotto’ ( Lottery) in the Library of Rotterdam. Moreover, he has a unique collection of cookbooks.

Television music

Tonny Eyk writes tunes for many television programs and performs regularly with other famous artists. He is best known for the theme tune of the NOS Studio Sport program and for compositions for ‘Van Kooten en de Bie’.

TV Tunes

For the following Dutch television he wrote the theme song;
* 1962 - 1963 Wilde Ganzen
* 1968 - 1970 Scala (NTS)
* 1968 - 1970 Doebiedoe
* 1970 - 1988 AVRO's TopPop
* 1972 - 1989 Klassewerk
* 1972 - heden NOS Studio Sport
* 1973 - 1983
* 1978 - 1989 Klassewerk
* 1978 - Nederlandse Omroep Stichting, NOS-theme song
* 1979 - 1985 AVRO's Puzzeluur
* 1980 - 1986 1-2-3-show
* 1981 - 1985
* 1981 - 1992 Teleac-theme song
* 1985 - 1993
* 1986 - 1988 Brandpunt (televisieprogramma)
* 1986 - 1995
* 1988 - 1994 -theme song
* 1989 - 1996 Boggle (game show), ''Boggle''
* 1989 - Socutera-theme song
* 1993 - 1994 Meer op Zondag (NOS)
* 1993 - 1998 Kookgek
* 1994 - 1995

Foreign TV Tunes

For the next German television he wrote the theme song;
* 1984 - 1987 (WDR)
* 1985 - 1990 Kinder in der Kiste (ARD)
* 1987 - 1988 Die Oma-Opa-Mama-Papa Guck Mal Show (WDR)
* 1991 - 1997 Rudi's Lacharchiv
* 1993 - ''The Post Has Gone'' (RTL)
* Rudigramme (RTL)
* 1992 - 1993 Rudi's Tierschow

Orchestra Leader

For the following TV programs Tonny Eyk was the conductor;

* 1963 - 1965 Kijk die Rijk
* 1964 - 1965 Johnny & Rijk shows
* 1966 - 1967 De Ronnie Tober-shows
* 1966 - 1979
* 1968 - 1969 De Max Tailleur-shows
* 1974 - 1976 Muziekmozaïek
* 1974 - 1985
* 1975 - 1980 Bij Ons In....
* 1978 Netwerk
* 1979 - 1981 Telebingo
* 1980 - 1981 De K.R.O. Komt Langs In
* 1981 - 1982 Mies
* 1983 - 1984 Nieuwe Oogst
* 1980 - 1986
* 1985 - 1986 De Willem Nijholt shows
* 1989 Harten-Gala's
* De Carré-shows (Variété-shows, 8-delige serie AVRO)

Other music for TV

* 1972 - 1975 ''Bibelebons''
* 1974 - 1975 ''De stille kracht''
* 1974 - 1975 ''De verlossing''
* 1974 - 1998 ''Van Kooten en De Bie''
* 1975 - 1976
* 1975 - 1978 ''De Holle Bolle Boom''
* 1977 - 1978 ''Hollands Glorie''
* 1977 - 1979 ''De Luchtbus''
* 1978 - 1979 ''Kant aan m'n broek''
* 1979 - 1980 ''De Boris en Bramshow''
* 1980 - 1985 ''De Poppenkraam''
* 1980 - 1990 ''Kinderen voor Kinderen''
* 1982 - 1983 ''De Zevensprong''
* 1983 - 1984 ''Willem van Oranje''
* 1983 - 1997 ''Hints''
* 1984 - 1985 ''Knokken voor twee''
* 1984 - 1990 ''Mini-playbackshow''
* 1985 - 1988 ''Thomas en Senior''
* 1985 - 1991 ''Mijn idee''
* 1988 ''Jingles en Tunes'' Nederland 3

Film Music

* 1973 - ''Nummer 14''
* 1976 - ''Peter en de vliegende autobus''
* 1979 - ''Martijn en de Magiër''
* 1980 - ''De Bende van Hiernaast''
* 1982 - De Boezemvriend (film), ''De Boezemvriend''
* 1982 - ''Knokken voor twee''
* 1985 - ''Maria''
* 1989 - ''Kunst- en Vliegwerk''
* 2009 - ' (with Hans Teeuwen)

Writer

Tonny Eyk is also a writer. He has published five books on France. He also writes articles in various magazines, including the magazine ‘Zakenreis’ (Business trip), ‘De Wijnkrant’ en ‘Côte & Provence’. For 22 years he wrote articles for the former newspaper ‘Het Nieuws van de Dag’. For many years, he has a column in the daily newspaper De Telegraaf. During the Tour de France he wrote daily columns.

Commissioned by Buma / Stemra, he wrote "The Forgotten Chapter" (the Dutch Variety). For Princess Appliances he published several culinary books. (‘Lounging with Princess’ and ‘Vitamin Festival’).

He has written several other books.
* 2000 - Richting Zuiden (Direction South)
* 2000 - Een Weekend Weg met Tonny Eyk (A Weekend Away with Tonny Eyk)
* 2002 - Leve het Goede Leven in Frankrijk (Long Live the Good Life in France)
* 2004 - Frankrijk en Route (France en Route)
* 2007 - Het Nieuwe Reisboek Richting Zuiden (The New travel book going South)
* 2010 - Smullen en Genieten in Frankrijk (Taste and enjoy in France)

References

External links

Extended Biography
(Dutch)

(Dutch)
Famous National and International 12" Releases

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyk, Tonny
1940 births
Living people
Dutch pop pianists
Musicians from The Hague
Dutch accordionists
21st-century accordionists
21st-century Dutch pianists