I
Guus Meeuwis

About:

23 March 1972

Guus Meeuwis was born in the small village Mariahout. During his time at the Tilburg university Guus Meeuwis writes ‘Het is een nacht’ ('This is a night') for his girlfriend. As a prank he and his friends decide to enter the AHC-Student songfestival with the song. They win and are picked up talentscout Willem van Schijndel who persuaded them to become a band called Guus Meeuwis & Vagant (named after the café they used for rehearsals). The single of ‘Het is een nacht’ becomes the surprise hit of 1995. After two more succesfull singles the debut album ‘Verbazing’ ('Amazement') enters the album charts at #1. The band would release two more albums before Meeuwis decides to go solo in 2004.

Together with old bandmembers Marc Meeuwis and Jan-Willem Rozenboom (songwriter and piano) he produces a selfnamed album. Featured on the album is the single ‘Brabant’ a tribute to the Dutch province where Meeuwis comes from. The inhabitants of the province are so taken with the song that they petition the queen to make it an alternate regional hymn. In 2004 Meeuwis scores another hit with 'Geef mij je angst' ('Give me your fear') a song originally sung by Andre Hazes. Guus sings the song on the funeral of the singer and is asked by the widow Rachel Hazes to release as a tribute single. Besides a hit it also pushes sales of his best of album. In 2005 he releases the album ‘Wijzer’ ('Wiser') with the single ‘De weg’, a translation of a Herbert Grönemeyer song. His concertseries in the Heineken Music Hall and the Philips football stadium establishes his success as a more serious artist. For the World Cup in Germany he releases the single ‘Ik wil dat ons land juicht’ ('I want our country to cheer'), without any result on both ends. After an operation on his vocal chords Meeuwis returns with the album ‘Hemel no. 7’ ('Heaven no. 7') and another concert series at the Philips stadium in 2008. A year later he records his eighth album at the Abbey Road studio's. The bankruptcy of his management The Entertainment Group (owned by his musical friend Marco Borsato) caused that the recording of 'Armen open' was posponed untill 2011. To celebrate his 20th anniversary on stage in 2015 he rents the Royal Albert Hall in London. Although it was meant as a fun gimmick the concert was sold out in ten minutes. Due to this succes he takes his band in 2016 to Paris to play the Olympia. Next to these international adventures his local concerts stay sold out events.

On the web:

- Guus' website: http://www.guusmeeuwis.nl

If you like this, you probably like.. / european counterparts:

Bénabar (France)

Herbert Grönemeyer (Germany)

What do we think:

DB: Guus Meeuwis reminds me of saturday nights in late night bars with people who had too much beer and all shant the 'Kedang kedang' chorus from his 1996 hit 'Het spoor' (the song is about how the sound of the nearby train resembles the sound in the bedroom....dûh). This image gives something of corny aura to Guus Meeuwis which is, in the light of this website, not completely fair. In fact Meeuwis seems to cross between Dutch pop and old fashioned folklore like Hoempa quite well. And he even made some serious contribitions in recent years with good and original songwriting. A friend of ours is an absolute fan, he demanded that Guus was mentioned here (and right he is). He used to work for Heineken. Oh no...Heineken?..beer?...here we go again...

PR: Guus seems like a nice fellow. His is an ambitious, hard-working guy, but he always appears very relaxed. He is entirely focussed on giving his audience the best experience, thus building a huge, loyal fan base and concert followers in the Netherlands. Other artists probably sing much better, others have better looks and again others might write better songs. But with Guus, it is the whole package, the combination of things that might explain his success. And he is definitely one of Holland's most popular Europopmusic artists of today. People who do not understand the Dutch language: listen to his music before buying one of his albums...

Albums:

Album ratings below thanks to our friend and Guus-fan Bas van Delft.

♪♪♪♪ - Verbazing - 1996

♪♪♪ - Schilderij - 1997

♪ - 1 voor allen - 2001

♪♪♪ - Guus Meeuwis - 2002 

♪♪♪♪♪ - 10 jaar levensecht (compilation) - 2004

♪♪♪♪ - Wijzer - 2005 

♪♪♪ - Hemel nr. 7 - 2007

♪♪♪ - NW8 - 2009

- Armen open - 2011

- Het kan hier zo mooi zijn - 2014

- Morgen - 2015

------------------------------------------------------------------------
♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided