Trying again ... In memoriam: Andre Hazes

Andre Hazes was born on 30 juni 1951 in Amsterdam. He was the fourth child in the poor Hazes family. Later the family grows with another two children. It all just barely fits in the much too small house on the Gerard Doustreet 67-3|up. Mother Hazes cares for the children and the household. father works, but drinks away almost all his salary in the pub.

As a boy from the neighbourhood De Pijp he often came on the Albert Cuyp Market. When he wanted to buy a present for his mother but didn't have any money, a salesman advised him to sing on the market. The young Hazes climbed on top of a crate and sang. That's how in 1959, on Liberation Day, he is discovered by Johnny Kraaykamp sr. The then-eight year old André makes his TV debut, launched by Kraaykamp Sr as a child star in AVRO's TV weekendshow. But the few singles that were published did not bring success.

In 1976 Hazes was discovered for the second time, this time by Willy Alberti. At the time he was working as a barkeeper, after having worked before as factory worker, seaman, bookbinder, flower deliveryman, bicycle repairman, chimney sweep, butcher's assistent, construction worker, digger, DJ, market salesman and waiter. He considered singing a hobby. With the help of Alberti a single came out of his "Lonely Christmas", a melodramatic tearjerker about a father who is in jail on Christmas because he stole for his family. It at once makes him one of the most popular Dutch singers ever.

The Philips record company had big plans with Hazes, but he did not agree with what they had in mind and became a fulltime barkeeper again. In 1980 he gets the opportunity from EMI to record the music of his own choice. A year later, the single "A little bit in love" and the album "Gewoon Andre" [transl: "Just Andre", but "gewoon" also means "ordinary"] make him a superstar. From 1988 onwards he also regularly scores hits with odes to the Dutch national soccer team.

Hazes' life, like his songs, was marked by loneliness and lovesickness, with divorces, marriage troubles and health problems. Ever more stories are about the effects of his lifestyle on his health; he was taken into hospital several times. He is a diabetic and has a drinking problem. There were also some small scandals, such as misbehaviour in a plane he was sentenced for in court.

From 1999 on, there was renewed attention for Hazes thanks to the documentary "She believes in me" by John Appel. The film disarmingly portrays Hazes, his career and his family life. It is not just a hit among his fans; the Amsterdam "canal house elite" also suddenly shows a massive interest in the singer and the movie attracts some 150.000 cinemagoers. It shows especially the melancholy side of Hazes, to the mild disappointment of the singer himself, who emphasizes that he's mostly a cheerful guy: "Je kan enorm met mij lachen". That side is showcased in a funny/endearing commercial he does around the same time for a kind of sausuages, in which he basically plays himself.

In 2002 Hazes goes through a short political career, when he gets voted into the local council of Vinkeveen for a local interest party. Continuous criticism from other parties eventually causes Hazes to mentally collapse just before the start of a meeting, after which he gives up his seat.

In 2003 Hazes' relationship problems lead him to cancel a planned series of concert in Ahoy, but the same year he does celebrate his silver jubileum in the Amsterdam Arena Stadium. The year before he also recorded the second album, after "Just Andre", that would hit number 1 in the Album Top 100, "Combative",

Since May 2004 Hazes had troubles hearing. He had a permanent buzz in his ear and could not hear himself speak. The director of Mojo Concerts say that talks had been underway about a "dignified closure to his career", because the outlooks concerning his hearing were gloomy. In September he got pneumonia, for which he was taken in to hospital Hofpoort in Woerden. The next morning he died in that hospital, in "a dignified manner" in the presence of his family. He had been seriously weakened by his diabetes and died by two heart attacks and a cardiac arrest.