Wilhelmus Jacobus Duyn (31 March 1937 – 4 December 2004) was a Dutch singer, actor, entertainer and

voice over artist Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-scr ...

. Under the stage name Big Mouth he was co-vocalist of the Dutch pop music duos

Mouth & MacNeal Mouth and MacNeal were a Dutch pop duo that enjoyed commercial success in the 1970s. Their recording of " How Do You Do" in 1972 topped the Dutch chart and became a US top ten hit and number 2 in Canada. They represented the Netherlands at the ...

(1971–1974) and Big Mouth & Little Eve (1975–1977).

Career

Early career

During the 1960s Duyn was a popular musician; he had performed in many Dutch bands such as Whiskers, and the Jay-Jays. He was also active as a

club DJ A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile DJ ...

at various Dutch nightclubs. In the 1960s, he played in a group called Speedway.

Mouth & MacNeal

In 1970 music producer

Hans van Hemert Hans van Hemert (7 April 1945 – 7 October 2024) was a Dutch record producer and songwriter. Mouth and MacNeal and Luv' are among the pop acts he produced. He won an ASCAP award for the song "How Do You Do" by Mouth and MacNeal. and composed th ...

invited Duyn to join his new music group

, together with

Maggie MacNeal Maggie MacNeal (born Sjoukje Lucie van 't Spijker; 5 May 1950) is a Dutch singer. She was a member of Mouth & MacNeal, a pop duet (music), duo from the Netherlands, who are best known for their million-selling recording of "How Do You Do (Mouth ...

. The duo released their first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Hey You Love", which reached #5 in the Dutch

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

, while the next two singles " How Do You Do" and "Hello-A" both reached #1 in the Netherlands. In 1972, "How Do You Do" reached the top of the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

throughout Continental Europe and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

and peaked at number 32 in Australia, made popular by local bands Jigsaw and Windows. Following several successful hits the duo represented the Netherlands at 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 ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, with

I See a Star "I See a Star" (original Dutch title: "Ik zie een ster") was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, performed in English (the first time the Dutch entry was not entirely in Dutch) by Mouth & MacNeal. The song was composed by Hans van H ...

that finished third on the night. The duo ended in 1974.

Later career

After 1974, Duyn began writing, performing, and releasing new material as a solo artist. From 1975 to 1977, he was a part of the duo Big Mouth & Little Eve, along with Ingrid Kup. Big Mouth & Little Eve released one album and eight singles during their short tenure. Duyn was also active as an actor, starring in the Dutch television programme ''Pompy de Robodoll'' and also lent his voice in voice acting. He provided the voice of

King Louie King Louie is a fictional character introduced in Walt Disney's animated musical film ''The Jungle Book''. He is an orangutan who leads other jungle primates and wants to become more human-like by gaining knowledge of fire from Mowgli. King Lo ...

in the Dutch version of

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

, Scat Cat in the Dutch version of

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 ...

and DeSoto in the Dutch version of

Oliver & Company ''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American Animated film, animated musical film, musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired by the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist''. I ...

Death

Duyn died on 4 December 2004 after suffering a cardiac arrest, at his home in

Roswinkel Roswinkel is a village in the Netherlands. It is part of the Emmen municipality in Drenthe, and is located close to the border with Germany. History Roswinkel developed in the 13th century from Weerdinge. It was first mentioned in 1327 as "In ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...

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 ...

. He was survived by his second wife and six children.

Discography

Mouth & MacNeal

Albums

Singles

Big Mouth & Little Eve

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duyn, Willem Dutch cabaret performers Dutch cabaret singers Dutch male radio actors 20th-century Dutch male singers Dutch male television actors Dutch male voice actors People from Haarlem 1937 births 2004 deaths 20th-century Dutch comedians